| HWA
in Alabama |
Will
Blozan |
| Jun
10, 2007 13:27 PDT |
Zac,
I don't know if HWA is in AL, but
the disjunct populations of hemlock should be a high priority
for
conservation.
Will
|
| Re:
HWA in Alabama |
Don
Bertolette |
| Jun
10, 2007 16:50 PDT |
Will-
There is a train of thought among serious conservationists that
with a
finite amount of funding, it's important to choose your battles.
Species at
the extent of their ranges, whether it be
longitudinal/latitudinal,
elevational, moisture/temperature gradients, etc., are more
sensitive to
changes in their environment, pests, etc.
In the case of Alabama, if it's pests, and they're controllable,
it should be
a high priority...while everything is related to everything,
reports of
dryer/hotter climate changes may not be as controllable...in the
90's on the
Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, we had a spruce bark beetle epidemic
that we
(USFS) thought at first that we could control the beetle by
creating
doughnut clearings around infected areas...the environmental
community
stopped initial USFS efforts, in retrospect saved the USFS from
some amount
of dollars...not because they had any handle on how to handle
such a
problem, but because of their mistrust. The final count,
something like 95%
of Kenai Peninsula spruce between certain elevations were
devastated. We
need to work on the means, and action originating out of
mistrust isn't
necessarily going to have positive impact.
All that said, keep up the good work you've undertaking, and the
successful
results the work has brought about!
-Don B
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