Date: Wed Apr 26 17:32:32 2000 From: RonsNewID@aol.com To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1288$foo@default> Subject: re: wild collecting
> > It is popular to spin elaborate hypothetical scenarios whereby these plants
> > could be used to reconstitute a population that could be reintroduced into
> > habitat.
>
> Not my opinion (see above).
>
> > But this is incredibly far-fetched and overlooks so many
> > important variables (like the existence of pollinators or even remaining
> > habitat) that it's just a silly prospect.
>
> Agreed.
In defense of romantics:
There seems to be precident in the animal world. The California Condor was
pulled from the wild and returned. And there are currently reintroduction
projects occurring with grizzly bears and wolves.
There are also numerous wetland restorations going on in California where
greenhouse grown native plants are being reintroduced into areas that haven't
been wetlands for decades.
I anticipate a counter argument saying that the Condor hadn't been out
of the wild (in cultivation) long enough to lose its wild traits,
however, here's another example: The famous/imfamous Albion bog in N.
California. Certainly the non-native CPs that were introduced there
came from cultivation, and because of that it seems likely that almost
any VFT, Sarr, D. capensis, etc. from any collection existing in a
similar climate would make it there. It seems a small leap in logic to
extend this to other CP habitats.
So in my humble, layman opinion, I don't think it's an incredibly
far-fetched and silly prospect. I look forward to the post nuclear war
day the when cockroaches, me, and my VFT will be called upon to
repopulate the earth.
Ron Sbragia
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