I am lucky(?)...

[rasputin1952]

I posted this as a reply, but I don't think it should be buried, please bear with me:

I am in Lincoln NE these days and both Sen's (Rickets & Fischer) have an office in the same building. I will be visiting both tomorrow in the morning.

My Rep (Flood) is nearby, so his office is going to be the final one (if I don't get arrested). All three are R's, which makes it easy for me, they will get no mercy!

Then I have been a member of the Arbor Day Foundation for years, and I'll get more coffee, and make it my final visit. After the SoCal fires, they have the resources to plant a tree for a buck apiece in affected areas. $10, 10 trees, $50, 50 trees. Everything helps, and they have boots on the ground. https://www.arborday.org/

There is an Indivisible meet-up (video) on Feb 5, and I am hooking up with them as well. Lincoln has a Chapter, but I haven't been able to pinpoint the precise location.

We also have a Democratic Office here, but I think I'm going to have to be a little more pro-active, silence is NOT an option.

You can find your local Indivisible Group by going to their site: https://indivisible.org

Don't go it alone, there is strength in numbers and some damn good ideas that can be used locally, we can stop this!

Let's crush this!

[Cirsium]

1. Arbor Day Foundation

Hard to believe that the Arbor Day Foundation is still promoting inappropriate species and cultivars. Butterfly Bush is extremely problematic. A quick look and I see the following species that have no place whatsoever in any North American ecosystem: Pinus nigra, Pistacia chinensis, Fagus sylvatica, Syringa vulgaris, Zelkova serrata, Cornus kousa, Tilia cordata , Ulmus parvifolia, Prunus tomentosa, Pinus mugo, Picea abies. Very irresponsible, and there is no excuse today for that, especially by an organization that is raising money by claiming to be restoring habitat and ecosystems. Shameful really.

The "plant trees" mania is something of a hustle. Forests are much more than trees, and there are many other important types of habitat. Throwing trees in the ground is a feel good simple minded approach to environmental restoration. Great for fund raising, however. I was talking to some people involved in surveys in forests here, and they discovered that 100 years after clear cutting 90% of the species had still not returned. It takes much, much more than planting trees, and that might not even be the best first step. There is always a big hoopla - "we planted 10,000 trees!" Go back in 10 years and see how many of those trees are alive. How many were appropriate species for the eco-region in the first p[lace? How many were even native to the continent where they were planted?

[rasputin1952]

2. I am printing this out and will bring it up with them...

Thanks for the heads up.

As far as I know, there has been a scandal, but it has been addressed.

As for native forests, Weyerhauser was responsible for stripping entire mountains in the Cascades, that was over thirty-five years ago, when I lived South of Seattle.

Many species of native trees were replanted, but I recall a "moonscape" when I was there. I will be checking with a few people I know back there, but I doubt much has happened. You can't have an ecosystem without trees, and a healthy one is with native species. I will be bringing this up with them today.

I appreciate your reply. Knowledge is everything when dealing with these situations.

[Cirsium]

3. That would be great

I tried and tried years ago with no success. I suspect it is a big money maker for them, and a dumbed down selection of species that panders to popular prejudices is good for sales. They also have a number of commercial tree fruit species, all of which are Old World. There are plenty of reputable nurseries around the country for both regional ecotypes of native species, but also for commercial fruit trees and canes. I am putting together an order right now for a restoration project with Alpha Nurseries here in Michigan. It is a Beech/Maple Mesic Northern Forest habitat, and we are putting in a few trees, but in the initial stages we are focusing on the forb and shrub understory under the existing mature trees, as well as mosses, sedges and grasses, ferns and fungi.

I hesitated to post because the desire to help with environmental restoration is laudable and I wouldn't want to discourage anyone. However, as with all things in modern US society, grifters abound. There is a lot of money available from people who care about the environment, and hundreds - thousands? - of organizations ready to take that money. A tiny handful are completely trustworthy, in my experience. It really sickens me. Success for the organization and success for the organization's purported mission are often at odds, or even diametrically opposed, and all sorts of compromises are made to raise money.

A few simple changes by the Arbor Day Foundation would make a big difference. People should not be planting Colorado Spruce or Redwoods in New England, for example, and they should not be planting Asian species anywhere in North America. Cultivars are big money makers for the nursery industry, but they limit genetic diversity which is more important than ever with climate change.

I encourage people to experiment with native edible fruits and nuts and greens - growing them, not harvesting them from dwindling wild stands. There are number of species in trouble because of wild foraging - Goldenseal, Ginseng, Wild Leek (Ramps) etc.

By the way, there is a growing problem in the US of deforestation as trees are being cut down, ground up and made into wood nuggets to be burned in power plants. It is supposedly a "renewable resource" and much of it is being exported.

Saving the planet as a livable home for human beings and millions of other life forms is an enormous and complex job. Simple minded "plant a tree" feel good marketing campaigns can do more harm than good.

[rasputin1952]

4. I concur...

I went wild when I was in Boston and dicovered Asian Bittersweet vines on the Oaks and Maples.
I cut the base vine, then yanked down as much as I could by hand. I dug up the root, chopped it, then yanked it from the soil. I tried to get to new sprouts. It was a job, but it was under control (for the time being) and the trees recovered very quickly. I worked like a man on a mission, I love trees. I love nature.

On my venture to Arbor Day today, I brought that printout I made and have an appointment with some of the staff out at Leid Lodge on Friday. Most of which is offered is because a lot of people want "decorative" trees and shrubs. I have to admit, a Dogwood is beautiful, but not everywhere.

What is being done in the CA Wildfire areas is the use of native species from seeds and seedlings from around the areas affected. This may not be perfect, and a few fast growing spuces are in the mix to stabilize soil. But I'll know a lot more after Friday's meeting.

Following the previous fires, they did a decent job of replanting, and are taking better care of what they plant. The scandal pushed them into new territory. They are far more in tune with the local species these days.

Thank you again for the previous post, it gave me a baseline to use, and I got a lot of info to work with.

If we could get people to actually deal with native species, things would be fantastic. There are options to make sure native trees get replanted, I'll know more Friday.

A special thanks for being a good steward of the land.

[Cirsium]

5. Very good

We are involved in remotely funding a number of native plant projects in California ( we are in Michigan). The plant diversity in California is stunning.

Calflora is a great resource:

https://www.calflora.org/

I just used their "whats grows here" feature, drew a map around Palisades fire area and got a list of 4275 species, mostly native to that area. It tells you whether a species is native or not. Lots of native grasses.