Subject: purple loosestrife

From: [email-masked] (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 14:32:00 GMT

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B>From: [email-masked] (Bernd Blossey)
 >To: Andy Nachbaur <[email-masked]>
 >Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 13:04:31 -0400
 >Subject: purple loosestrife

B>Dear Beefriend,

B>I have read your tirade against the proposed release of biological control
 >agents against the wetland weed purple loosestrife. I have been working on
 >biological control of purple loosestrife for almost a decade but such a
 >conglomerate of ignorance and special interest concerns has never crossed
 >my path.

Hello Dr. Blossey,

It is interesting that you of all people would single me out for
personal attack. It may be true that my opinion on this Environmental
Assessment is a "conglomerate of ignorance", I am not a scientist, or
do I have a doctorate. It is also true that I am a beekeeper and if
anything is special about being a beekeeper and this EA it is that
beekeepers will be damaged because wildflower pasture bees depend on
will be damaged. My concerns are just as valid to me and my 46 years of
experience with bees as yours are to you with your 10 years of research
on Purple Loosetrife.

Some would say that your position is also one of the "special interest",
or the elite groups, considering that this EA relies disproportionately
on your own research and opinion seeing that 6 of the 17 references
listed to support the EA have your name on them. I would venture a guess
that you are in no small part dependent on public monies to do your
research and must convince others that your research has great value in
order to generate support including special interest groups. I am not
bothered or burdened by such problems. I love my work, I love my boss, I
have never had a real job, I am a lifelong self employed beekeeper 58
years old with an 46 years interest in bees, beekeeping, and beekeepers
and 41 years supported only by the bees.

 >I would recommend you become familiar with the published
 >literature (just because you don't know about scientific studies
 >demonstrating the negative effects of purple loosestrife does not mean
 >there aren't any!!).  I also recommend you become familiar with biological
 >control as a safe and environmentally sound method to control exotic plants
 >(used in the United States for over a century with great success),  where
 >success is measured in overall costs and benefits, not only considering a
 >special interest group.

I have seen no statements that claim that Purple Loosetrife is not a
problem, though some DO NOT believe that there is scientific evidence
that it is as bad as other's say it is. The reduction of bee pasture
is not a positive benefit to honey bee's or other insects. The
destruction of non target native wildflowers is not a positive benefit
to anyone but those with special interests.

The lack of control after the release of the plant pests is not a
positive benefit and the fact that they can not be confined to the
target plant, and target area is not a positive effect.

The total lack of financial responsibility by those who would release
these plant pests if their opinions and research were wrong and
the new plant pests were to become destructive on other wildflowers or
crops is not a positive benefit but a real risk.

B>And your hate speech against the government (here represented as the Fish
 >and Wildlife Service) acting against the interests of the public is not
 >only dangerous it is simply wrong.  The alliance across the entire North
 >American continent fighting against exotic weeds (including purple
 >loosestrife) involves concerned environmentalists (individuals and groups)
 >as well as hunters, fishermen and local, state and federal agencies.  I
 >agree that often beekeepers are on the other side of the fence since these
 >introduced exotics are an abundant forage source for bees.  However,  we
 >have to weigh the overall health of our ecosystems against special
 >interests, and sorry for you, bees and beekeepers are a special interest
 >group (that at least in part were creating the purple loosestrife problem
 >by spreading plants and seeds).  Plants, bees and beekeepers will not be
 >eradicated but some beneficial effects that an exotic plant may have for
 >bees does not outweigh the overall negative environmental effects.  All
 >this has been determined for purple loosestrife and very clearly, control
 >of purple loosestrife is desirable.

To punish all beekeepers, and that part of the public the views Purple
Loosetrife as an attractive wildflower and garden plant because you as
a scientist have scientific evidence that one or more beekeepers were
responsible for it's spread is beyond my understanding of the laws
of the United States, and surely demonstrates your personal bias that
may be reflected in your own scientific work and should be of interest
and a consideration if anyone should rely on your work or opinion in
making comment on this EA.

B>You might not like this result but considerable effort was spent to
 >consider all affected parties.  Your tirade against government and the
 >proposed action is based on your gut feeling instead of considering the
 >facts.  Putting it into hate speech does make a rational discussion rather
 >difficult.  Fortunately,  I have experienced a deeper understanding of this
 >issue among your fellow beekeepers in the past.

I have been a active beekeeper all my life, I never heard of you before
receiving this interesting letter with your comments on my opinions.
If you have have made presentation's to beekeepers in California,
Arizona, Colorado, or North Dakota it is new's to me..The fact is
that this project and it's EA was only by accident presented to me
because someone else found the announcement and posted it on the
internet highway. I know of NO beekeeper who received notice of the
comment period for this EA from any government agency.

But the facts are that these non native plant pests that are proposed
to be released according to the EA are expected to damage other native
wild flowers other then the target host plants. It is also a fact that
there will be absolutely no control on these plant pests once they are
released and they can be expected to damage native wildflower on
private lands and private and public gardens as well as the land
controlled by the government agency's involved in a short time of
their release.

I do not say that to control Purple Loosetrife is not a worthy project,
I am sure you and your friends believe that it is. It is apparent that
at least one other also feels that to release these plant pests may
not be appropriate or there would not have been an alternative plan
to release NO new plant pests.

I do say the costs to the bee pasture lost are not small and the risks
are great, and based on to little science and to much opinion.

My opinion is that if you were to to take these five plant pests and
make them into a Chemical compound called "Purple Loosetrife Killer"
you would have little if any expectations of registration and use
using the research done for the plant pests. Why should the standards
be lowered because these are biological plant pests and not chemical
products when the risks are the same?

It is not good enough to stand or hide behind words like environmentally
friendly or ecologically or biologically safe and then admit scientific
studies show that non target native wildflowers will suffer and may
become endangered because of the release of these plant pests. And
wildflower pasture for honey bees and other insects will be damaged.
In my opinion this is false advertising of the lowest kind, no different
then any chemical salesperson would do hawking his brand of products.

Your personal attack on me, and my opinions are not what I expect from
any one in the scientific community and does not add creditability to
your own work or opinion, or profession, but I will certainly add them
to my own comments on the Environmental Assessment of the Proposed
Release of these plant pests as they should be considered for what
they are, opinion NOT science, as well are my own comments.

My personal opinion is that the value of the lost pasture for bees
and other insects will grater then the benefits of the release of these
plant insects that only will cause both a visual and real degrading of
public and private lands by damaging the targeted host plant Purple
Loosetrife, a naturalized wildflower of great beauty that is also used
in gardens with a long, 100 years or more history in the US, and non
target native wildflowers related to it. It is also my opinion that this
Environmental Assessment places to much reliance on the opinions and
hopes of too few scientists that politically correct species will
replace the damaged Purple Loosetrife and native wildflowers that will
be killed. I also believe that to rely on the testing of only 50 species
of plants for damage by these plant insects is less then adequate to
guarantee that these pests will not attack other native wildflowers or
agricultural crops. The fact is that if these new plant pests were to
attack any other plant or crops there is no plan to control them or
remunerate those who suffer loss, and those who would release them would
have no lability for their mistakes and bad judgements. The release of
these new pest insects is not a reversible act and should not be allowed.

In my opinion the risks far outweigh any advantage stated in the
Environmental Assessment and ALTERNATIVE A (No Action) is clearly
the only environmentally and ecologically safe plan.

                         ttul Andy-

PS. I LOVE the United States of America. I support the government and
I vote and express my opinion anytime I feel I can make a difference.
I have personally met and expressed and made my opinions known to one
president of the United States and several more want to bees. I am the
only beekeeper to have ever served on the Commodity Advisory Committee
of the University of California, Berkley, California to advise the
University President on Agricultural Research and Extension. My x wife
still serves and has for many years on a similar committee of the
University of Arizona. I served my 10 years in the service and have a
Honorable Discharge. I do not hate anyone, or any branch, agency, or
bureaucrat of the United States or any State. I have learned by much
grass roots political experience that personal attacks on myself for my
personal opinions usually signal weak facts and opinions by those who do
the attacking and they usually do not come out winners, win or lose....

I do not represent any beekeeping group, militia, or posse, and
my opinions have no more real value then the space they take up.
The value other's place on them is beyond my control.