Re: an ideal world??
Andrew Marshall (andrewm@eskimo.com)
Thu, 7 Mar 1996 19:06:58 -0800 (PST)
Hello Folks,
Me again... First, Hi Marj, do not fear nor tremble but stand
boldly with us
and wear asbestos underwear. Learning the timely use of the delete key
also helps. Welcome and thanks for your interesting information.
Jeff Welch makes some interesting points. He reiterates my
action cry in a shortened fashion that being conservation through
propagation, distribution and education, and makes the very important
point that this can be done by everyone. Self your plants (where
possible) if you have to to get pure seed and distribute it with as much
of a pedigree as you can. Thats the important bit.
I noted with concern the posting by Carl Strohmenger. In an
ideal
world we all would like a place in the Florida panhandle, one in the
Carolinas, one in Australia(perhaps two) and several in Malaysia so that
we can grow all of the plants that we do in their proper places without
the threat of illness or death dooming the collections. In the real
world most of us wish we had a place of our own anywhere. I personally
fancy Alaska. Imagine a Nepenthes greenhouse up there eh?!! Since this
is the real world some of us have to make do with window sills and a
host of makeshift systems that perhaps arent pretty but do the job well
enough. Does it really matter where the plant is now as long as it is
cared for, propagated etc... and its existance assured into the future?
And as far as what we do not being real conservation. How does
what we do differ from what a zoo does. It wasn't all that long ago
when the animals were kept in cages. The classical definition of cages,
not the "microhabitat" cage that mimics nothing in particular but looks
good to the fee paying public and perhaps fools the animals. Granted we
all aren't able to hold and maintain a piece of bog somewhere and keep
it genuine. Who could? Ask yourself this..If you had an Oreo bog could
you resist sectioning off a bit to put the rest of your collection in?
It would be really difficult. Or to be more fair, You have a bog with
Ss. leucophylla, flava, psittacina, and purpurea venosa, as well as the
associated Drosera, Utricularia, Pinguicula not to forget the orchids
and other associated plants. Same question...What about the Ss. rubra
jonesii, oreophilla, alabamensis, P. ionantha that you have in
collection? This last aimed more at Sean Barry, but it does address the
idealistic statements addressed in the previous paragraph.
I agree that we need to tie ourselves in more closely with
cooperative organizations that ACTUALLY WANT AND WOULD APPRECIATE our
help, we might buy up bits and pieces of those places doomed to the axe
or dozerblade. But in the long term, that is purely local. What about
Nepenthes? Who will stop the development of the last mountain to
contain N sp. example? And if it is inevitable that the mountain
falls, the plants are rescued, distributed etc... THEN are we
conserving? Whats the difference between trying to be a bit proactive
rather then waiting until to late? It would be nice if these
organizations made themselves more known as well, perhaps solicite our
help.
Lastly, I to am disgusted by the offical concept that if you do
not have the proper paperwork and are paid then you do not know what you
are talking about. I do not claim to be a botanist despite many years
of study in college and in the field. I have the paperwork but as I am
a layman not a paid scientist, I am viewed as irrelevent. "you can not
have a permit because you are not from an institution" "we will not deal
with you because you are a layman" Hey, I have the plants, knowledge,
answers to the questions etc...We are all in this mold and need to get
attention to help save wetlands. So we are laymen, SO WHAT! By denying
the value of our collections we buy into the idea that these plants are
disappearing and there is NOTHING that can be done except by the
institutions. I am reminded of a recent(3 or 4 yrs ago) article I read
in Audubon in which the question was raised about disapearing songbirds.
With all the protection the birds were getting here in the US and
Canada, why were they declining? It happened that at the same time
several top notch Universities with all the proper paperwork were
conducting yearly census' in central and S. America(I forget where
exactly, will look it up and report) in order to add to thier
collections. THOUSANDS of songbirds, common here in the US were being
killed and stuffed for each place. WHY? When all were readily avaiable
as stuffed specimens alreadyt in the collections of these same
universities. To fulfill the protocol laid out for the census. I know
we are back to birds again, but the point I am trying to make is that
just because they have credentials doesn't mean anything as far as
conservation. What was being done in the name of conservation was in
actual fact threatening the very populations that were being studied. I
prefer to remain skeptical until they actually DO something besides
study, talk and hope the problem goes away.
I will step down now from the soap box. The air gets pretty
thin
up there and I need to breath. I close with this thought. Pay
attention folks to where the next shopping mall, housing development,
boat launch etc. are put in. Odds are it will be on a wetland and in
the right place, odds are it will be a bog. If you can not save the
swamp, at least save the plants!
tired in Seattle Andrew
ps. There is a big difference between collecting and wholesale pillage
for profit from already protected places. Collecting a few from a
roadside ditch subject to spraying, mowing etc and a shopping mall lot
are the same. Alert the officals first by all means, at least they will
know where to direct the bulldozers. Remember the case of the Florida
developer wanting to avoid the paperwork and regulations when it was
discovered that there were red cockaded woodpeckers on his lot. He shot
them all. He was fined etc... which didn't resurect the birds and
eventually the development went through. While they all talked about
what they were going to do with his woodpeckers he solved the problem.
It happens all to often, all to fast.