America's Stealth Enemies

No other historical event, with the possible exception of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, focused more public attention on national security concerns than the Sept. 11 attacks.

Yet, long before al Qaeda, America has been subjected to a steady attack from another type of external enemy --- one that has grown much worse in recent years. Much of the blame for these attacks lies with us --- ordinary Americans --- who, with hardly a sideward glance, have allowed hundreds of these enemies to breach our borders within the last couple of centuries.

The enemies are invasive species --- all manner of weeds, aquatic plants, animals and insects that are pouring into this country from virtually every corner, disrupting ecosystems and forcing states and localities to shell out millions upon millions of dollars to control them.

Simply typing the phrase “invasive species” into an Internet news search engine (news.google.com) will yield all sorts of accounts, often bordering on the bizarre, of how beleaguered communities are grappling with these interlopers.

Along the Pacific Coast, for example, biologists are keeping a watchful eye on the mitten crab, a tiny crustacean that is nonetheless out-competing many native species, many of which local fishermen rely on for their economic survival. Biologists are warning the public of the huge environmental and economic costs that will follow of the crab isn’t stopped dead in its track.

Clear across the continent, European green crabs are wreaking a similar type of havoc along the New England coast. Like their Pacific Coast counterparts, fisherman have reached their wits end, decrying the toll these crabs have taken on native species.

The misery isn’t confined only to aquatic species. In Minnesota, Bloomington’s city leaders are calling on citizens for help ridding local parks of buckthorn bust, an invasive shrub that, like most interlopers, grows rapidly and chokes out native trees, shrubs and wildflowers.

Thousands of miles away along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, Dr. Mike Patterson, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System weed scientist and Auburn University agronomy professor, has gained a unique perspective into the damage caused by yet another invasive plant. For the past few years, Patterson has assisted with efforts throughout the state to control cogongrass, an especially prolific weed that rivals kudzu, the South’s most notorious invasive weed.

As is the case with so many other invasive species, human apathy is as much to blame as anything else, Patterson says.

“These types of issues tend to be ignored for so long,” Patterson says. “They start out small, much like cogongrass, and nobody pays much attention until it becomes a big problem.”

Cogongrass, in fact, is a prime example how horrendously big problems often come in small packages. It was first introduced --- accidentally --- into the Port of Mobile in the 1930s when the weeds, used as packing material, were emptied out of shipping crates and thrown along the edge of the port.

“We ignored it even though people as far back as the 1940’s were hollering about the grass,” he says. “We didn’t do anything.”

As recently as 30 years ago, Auburn University Agronomy Professor Ray Dickens also tried marshaling a statewide effort to control the weed's spread --- again, to no avail.

Since then, the weeds have spread to more than 300,000 acres --- a conservative estimate in Patterson’s view --- in 39 counties.

Human progress also has played its share in the spread of cogongrass and other invasive plants.

“If you look at locations where weeds have turned up, they closely parallel the U.S. interstate and highway system,” Patterson says.

Passing traffic picks up the seeds, blowing it farther and farther down the road, he says.

Another culprit is earthmoving equipment that carries contaminated seed from one area to another.

Much like buckthorn bust and other invasive plants, cogongrass is proving exceedingly difficult to control in a region where the population and landscapes are proliferating as fast as the weed. In fact, one of Patterson’s graduate students has identified more than 660 locations throughout the state where infestation has occurred.

[Source: Dr. Michael Patterson, Alabama Cooperative Extension System Weed Scientist and Auburn University Professor of Agronomy, (334) 844-5492.]

Posted by Jim Langcuster at October 28, 2004 05:14 PM | TrackBack