Subject: Purple loosestrife

From: [email-masked] (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 1995 03:50:00 GMT

C>From: [email-masked] (Chris Coplan)
 >Subject: Purple loosestrife

C>> SUMMARY:  The purpose of this Notice is to make available to the public an
 >> environmental assessment regarding the release in the United States of
 >> three nonindigeneous insects Galerucella calmariensis, Galerucella
 >> pusilla, and Hylobius tansversovittatus. The purpose of the release is to
 >> reduce and control Lythrum salicaria on Service-managed wetlands and to
 >> assist the States to reduce and control purple loosestrife on non-Service
 >> wetlands.  These insects are not native to North America.

C>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 >This prob. not the right place to post, but oh well...anybody know what
 >the common names of these insects are??  (seems to me, when the govt. does
 >introductions such as these, they do more harm to the local ecology than
 >good...but who am I).

I agree with you Chris, on the later. I also think this is the best
place to post the info on the Forest Service plan to release any insect
pest that will damage any Honey Plant like "purple loosestrife" or
"spiked loosestrife".

Every beekeepers has a legal right, A DUTY as a beekeeper, to respond
to this notice or EA, (Environmental Assessment), on the release of these
distractive pests. And each comment must be considered equally and
answered. This includes beekeepers from outside the United States and
especially our neighbors to the north and south. So called introductions
of pests by our government agency's are not limited to the political
boundaries of the United States and could become serious pests in other
environments and beekeepers outside the US.

If no one or few respond then these pests well be released. If one
peon can give good cause why they should not be released then there is
good reason to believe that they will not be released. Or at the least
you will be part of the record and should be notified of any adverse
action to your response and given time to seek relief, and/or for
changes to be made in the EA. No reasonable issue will not be
addressed; So it is written, so it will be..but it's our move.

Some other things all should know. You do not have to be personally
aversely effected to comment. You do not have to have dollars at
risk to comment. And much more, most environmental law is now tilted
a tad towards those who have appreciation for the environment other
then just monetary loss or gains. Last but not the least, if you are
like me and other beekeepers, and just don't want bee pasture damaged
by the release of distractive insects, chemicals, or other control
measures..WE WILL NO WALK ALONE into any hearing. You may not like the
company you will keep but they will be there and you may be surprised who
will side with the beekeeper who want's to protect the bee pasture.

Some reason why I am concerned about the Forest Service EA, and any
plan to release any distractive insect pest to control "PURPLE
LOOSESTRIFE".

   Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum)., is a common name used for both native
and naturalized family of plants that can be found coast to coast and
boarder to boarder in the United States. It is a plant that is of
importance to honey bee's and other insects for food.

   This brings to mind a question; are the intended distractive pests
able to distinguish between the naturalized or introduced species of
Lythrum and the native ones? What about L.alatum, L. ovalifolium, and
some other close plants maybe including some wild and cultivated
buckwheats?

   Another question would be how the Forest Service intends to keep
these introduced pests from crossing into Canada or Mexico?

   I also believe that Purple Loosestrife is an attractive plant and
adds to the ascetics of the areas it grows in. I don't think thousands
of acres or miles of sick, dying, or dead dead plants are of any esoteric
value.

   I will go on and on depending on what I find in the US Forest
Service EA report. But I can tell all from much experience at reading
these that their EA will be full of half truths, pseudo science, and
worst case serenades. All that deserve the time and comments any
beekeepers can make using some God given common sense and simple
reasoning, a well know special trait that beekeepers have that many
others in the so called special interest groups, dusty's, scientists,
and regulators are lacking....

   Look at it from the other side.. Honey Bee's are not native to the
US, Honey Bee's kill about a dozen people each year. Honey Bee's have
been reported to have killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people in SA.
Why don't we import a few varroa mites to rid the US of the introduced
and dangerous pest the Honey Bee?

   Maybe they already did that and forgot about the EA?

They sure did for the Sage head weevil introduced into the best wild
flower honey producing plant in California, and also did a real sneak
job on pest's released into the Yellow Star Thistle, one of the most
important summer nectar and pollen plants for bee's and other insects of
Central and Northern California. All these latter introductions of pests
have done is to reduce the value of these wild flowers to bee's and made
them an unsightly mess..not one acre has been cleared of the native or
naturalized target plants...

  To end I personally believe that if we as a nation were blessed with
all the public funds that any and all agencies could spend, these kind
of projects would not be on my list, and the Forest Service and any
other agency that would today spend the time and money on projects to
injure, damage, or destroy naturalized or native plants that benefit
Honey Bee's and other insects as food crops should be "blue penciled",
de-funded or what ever it takes to get that agency priorities changed.

                             ttul Andy-

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Opinions are not necessarily facts.