Re: legislation?

Anelle,

I think you're referring to the proposed "white list", as opposed to
the current black list for known noxious weeds.  The current listing
of known bad guys works just fine.  There are very well established
guidelines for adding and removing plants from this list.

The white list has not yet been implemented, but it is among the
proposals that are on the table and will be considered in the future.
 Consideration is being mandated by the Plant Protection Act and
recommendations by the rather biased group of "stakeholders" that
were assembled to suggest legislation to "protect" our native plants.

I have nothing against protecting what little native ecosystems we
have left; I do not think a white list is the way to go about it.

It is being pushed hard by the native only crowd, whose more rabid
elements would like to see all "exotic" plants removed from the
landscape.  This is a very vocal and well-organized group who have
been working toward their goals for a number of years.

It is not a viable concept, really, because it would be physically
and financially impossible for our government to trial all known and
unknown plants for every ecosystem in this country, even if there
were a proven scientific method of determining which plants might
become invasive in any given area - which there is not.  This means
that, should it become law, there would be a complete stop to new
plant introductions and Lord only knows what would happen to the sale
and exchange of plants internationally or even nationally.

I am totally opposed to the white list concept for the above reasons
and urge all of you who care about horticulture to give it careful
consideration and if you find you are also opposed, write to USDA
about it, your legislators and the Secretary of Agriculture.

You can import plants that are not on the Federal noxious weed list;
not CITES protected nor on the list of plants that you can't import
but aren't weeds (all Rubus, for instance).

I am not certain what the status of the 12 plants for personal use
that one used to be able to bring back from a trip abroad without a
lot of paperwork.

All nurseries and importers of plants must obtain a phytosanitary
certificate from the country of origin. There are also import permits
to deal with...

Also, as of last January, all seeds imported into the US must be
accompanied by a phyto. certificate...one seed; one packet or
thousands of seeds.  This is also not a good plan for many reasons I
won't go into here.  There is a possibility that USDA APHIS may
reconsider this if they get enough feedback from the public about it,
but getting people to write a letter is not an easy task...

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: Anelle Kloski <akloski@JPS.NET>
>
> Was it on this list a while back that there was discussion of
> legislation being considered about not importing plants without a
period
> of evaluation?  If anyone remembers this, can you tell me what
happened
> to all this?
>
> Anelle
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