My posting here is in three parts.  The first part gives my overall perspective on the issue.  The second contains my comments on the regulations that were adopted in January.  The third part talks about what should be done in addition to those regulations.  I am fully supportive of the comments from Arlington County Parks and Natural Resources and the Arlington County Urban Forestry Commission - with the additional suggestions listed below.  The author of these comments is a retired CEO who lives on 1,500 acres in western Albemarle County and who has undertaken extensive programs to control the invasive species in his forest.

BACKGROUND AND PERSPECTIVES

What is needed to address this whole subject is a balanced discussion among all the major stakeholders that takes into account all of the following (and more):

• The impacts on business, jobs, et al - particularly in the nursery, landscaping and related trades

• The extraordinary damage to public and private property caused by invasive plants, the rapidly growing costs to deal with them and the time it takes for the ecosystems to recover, if they ever fully do so.Once released into the wild, invasive plants rarely, if ever, can be eradicated.Control efforts can push them into the background, but those efforts then need to be continued potentially forever.

• The rights of landowners to do as they wish on their own property, considering as well that when one landowner plants an invasive plant, he may adversely impact his neighbors for miles around.

• Prevention, when properly done, can be a great deal cheaper than dealing with it once it gets out of control.

  Note that this discussion needs to distinguish between invasive plants and non-native plants.  There are lots of non-native plants that are well behaved that are not the subject of this discussion.  The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of Natural Heritage has published a list of invasive plants in Virginia.  Each of the species on this list was carefully evaluated using the DCR Invasive Species Assessment Protocol.  As suggested by the petitions, this list should be the basis for these discussions and any potential new laws and regulations.

   

  COMMENTS ON THE RECENTLY ADOPTED REGULATIONS

  The new regulations are fine in the sense that there is only one reason why they shouldn’t have been adopted.  There is nothing wrong with them as far as they go.  The only reason not to have adopted them would be if anyone thinks that the job has been done and can now be put on the backburner.  The real issue with these regulations is that they do so little when so much needs to be done.  This is one baby step when a long march is needed.  The problems caused by invasive plants in the US and in Virginia are huge and growing rapidly.  Those of us who know what they look like see them everywhere we go, along the highways, the city streets, parks, in our forests, etc.  The plants listed as highly invasive  multiply and spread quickly.  They are on the march and will continue to devastate and supplant our native flora with more and more profound impacts on our insects, animals, watersheds, soils, and the aesthetics of our land.

   

  As I understand it, the current laws and regulations prevent weeds from being categorized as noxious if they are “widely disseminated”.  This is absurd.  Just because a plant is already widely disseminated doesn’t mean that it is truly everywhere or has already done all the damage it is going to do or that we shouldn’t stop people from planting more of it.  The first thing you want to do to solve an ongoing problem is to stop the bleeding.  In this case it means we should stop planting more of the things causing the most damage and that will cause us all to spend untold amounts of money and effort to rectify.

   

  The regulations as adopted will help stop a few new cuts, but they don’t deal with all the bleeding that is killing the patient.  What follows are my suggestions on how to proceed to properly preserve our natural heritage for the generations to come.  Right now we are definitely not on a track that will leave our children and grandchildren with the natural heritage that we have all enjoyed and come to take for granted.

   

  WHAT REALLY NEEDS TO BE DONE

  Below I have listed the topics that need to be addressed.  Some of these topics should be relatively non-controversial and should be able to be put into legislation or regulations that can be adopted quickly.  The other topics will require a working group to deliberate at length and reach compromises that can be supported by all the key stakeholders before there is any point in trying to pass new legislation or regulations.  For all of these areas I would suggest convening a working group that includes at least the following:

• Representatives from the state agencies that will be involved in administration, implementation and enforcement

• Representatives from the horticultural industries (nurseries, mail order, landscaping, et al)

• Representatives from the landowners (public and private) who are dealing with the ecological, quality of life, and economic impacts of invasive species

• Representatives from other interested organizations (e.g. universities, non-profits) who are dealing with the ecological, quality of life, and economic impacts of invasive species

  All of these groups need to send people who acknowledge that this is not a one-sided issue.  There are multiple facets, many stakeholders, and lots of complexity.  Nonetheless, all the people in the group need to take the long view of what will produce the right and best result for the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia - both now and for generations to come.

   

  TOPICS THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED

• Suggested for fast track processing

  • Eliminate the sale and importation into Virginia of invasive plants that are not sold through Virginia businesses or are not significant in their economic value to the industry in Virginia.  I would like to see the Virginia horticultural industry take the list of invasive plants published by DCR and indicate which plants on that list contribute zero, low, medium and high value in their trade in Virginia.

• Longer term issues to be worked through by the working group

  • How to deal with the plants not selected for the fast track process but that are on the DCR list.Many different kinds of solutions may be chosen on a species by species basis, including but not limited to outright bans, phasing out over a number of years (as proposed in one of the petitions), required use of proven sterile hybrids where available, or other solutions that reduce or eliminate the risks and damage caused by these species.

  • Rights and obligations of state agencies to go onto anyone’s lands and eliminate the species listed or other means to compel the elimination of noxious weeds

  • Funding the remediation of problems caused by invasive species starting with the problems that already exist and are rapidly getting worse.  But also, who bears the cost burden when new plants are deliberately imported and later become large scale invasive pests?  Should those who gain the benefit also pay for some part of the damage?  Or are the taxpayers and the landowners who didn’t cause these problems obligated to shoulder most of the costs?  What is the right answer?

  • Restrictions on the sale and importation of new plants not currently for sale in Virginia.  Introductions of new, attractive species of plants are a major revenue producer for the horticultural industry.  But this process is also one major avenue for introducing new plants that could get out of control and become the next pest that alters our ecosystems and costs large amounts of money and effort to deal with.  There are elaborate safeguards through the USDA that control the introductions of insects and other pathogens needed to control invasive species.  Introducing new plants (and occasionally thereby new problems) is relatively easy.  It is true that most newly introduced horticultural offerings prove to be ecologically harmless - though there are those who would argue this point.  However, those few that become disruptive invasive plants can cause economic harm and other damage of incredible proportions.  We have seen many of our major forest species effectively eliminated or on the way to elimination (e.g. chestnuts, elm, hemlock, ash, butternut, walnut, and more).  Species like cogon grass, Japanese stiltgrass, garlic mustard, oriental bittersweet, autumn olive, et al create monocultures that destroy or crowd out native vegetation on a large scale and, if untreated, fundamentally change our ecosystems.  The costs of damage and control are skyrocketing.  Published estimates are that invasive plants currently cost $34 billion annually across the US and the number is rising rapidly.  Furthermore there is reason to believe that not only are these costs understated, but they don’t include other impacts like the lost aesthetic value of park trees and landscaping that have been decimated and will take years or decades to be replaced.   

     

    Actions like those listed above are required if we are to preserve our natural heritage and turn over to the next generations some reasonable semblance of what we have all come to love and cherish.