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Re: [RC] California Agricultural product restrictions - Truman PrevattLast year there was a fungus that showed up on soy beans in Western KY. It came from Africa. It was not transported in by car, truck, horse, hiker's shoe, etc. It was transported across by one of the several hurricanes we have seen in the past few years. It's not uncommon for African dust show up in the SE carried by high altitude winds. Yep blame Mother Nature.The are seeing pollution, dust and in the Western US being carried via wind from China. This is a round world and once something gets into the upper atmosphere it can get carried a long way, be it volcanic ash, dust, fungus spoors of maybe even small seeds. We seem to be having significantly sever storms world wide that can put these things into the upper atmosphere for transport. Again Mother Nature. While local programs can have some impact they have to be total. You just can't target horses and hay. Deer eat weeds and carry seeds. Birds are notorious for spreading weed seeds. Tire tread carry sees. Treads in hiking boots carry seeds. Treads in riding shoes carry seeds. The list goes on. At some point what will grow and win out is the strongest plant that adapts best. It may not be what has been best in the past. MT is getting warmer, in a few years Glacier NP won't have any. This climate change of a few degrees may not seem significant but it can make a large difference in the plants that grow well or don't grow well. Add to the that any change in average rainfall, or average hours of sun light and the whole ecosystem can be thrown off balance and a new equilibrium will be established - one man may not like. While it may be a noble try, I doubt if the weed-free certification program will have much impact on the long range ecosystem balance - being mostly dictated by the climatic conditions. I read something a while back that Fescue is considered "non-native." It was brought over by the British. Of course there are groups that are pushing to get rid of Fescue in the US forest. This was on of the reasons the Park Service require manure to be piled in the middle of the filed at the Big South Fork ride last year. Now Fescue grows like gang busters in the Eastern half of the US. It is the common pasture grass (for those not breeding horses). It is a common lawn grass. It is drought tolerant - much more so than the "native" grasses. It will one cold day in hell when Fescue is eliminated from the Eastern forest. However, the two summers we lived in CO I can tell you I always got certified hay for the horses. First it was much easier to travel in CO and second - it was much better hay well worth the additional price. Truman Sisu West Ranch wrote: "...Interesting about the "weed-free" certification program attempt. ...." -- “With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” Steven Weinberg – Nobel Laureate, Physics =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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