Tuesday March 01, 2005
This video has been watched 1,545 times
AVALON, CATALINA ISLAND - Invasive plants, better known as weeds can act like a disease sweeping over the landscape. Healthy land, free of these invasive plants, produces native vegetation that is key to a healthy eco-system. Much like an infection in a human body may eventually cause severe harm or death from complications; the onslaught of invasive plants may out compete and eventually eliminate endemic and native species of plants. Displacement of native vegetation can reduce shelter and the food supply of native animals, and make a region more susceptible to severe fire or flood events. However, on Catalina Island, just 20 miles off the Southern California coast, the Catalina Island Conservancy has dedicated the talents of one man to eradicate the cancerous spread of weeds across the Island's interior. John Knapp, the Conservancy's Invasive Plant Program Manager, sees himself as a "land doctor" or specialist on "Invasive Plant Cancer."
The work of eliminating invasive vegetation is recognized this year from February 27 to March 4, 2005 during the Sixth Annual National Invasive Weeds Awareness Week. Sponsored by the Invasive Weed Awareness Coalition, a Washington, D.C. based group, the week is devoted to increasing awareness of problems, research and management of invasive plants. During this week, Knapp will get help of volunteers from Americorp*NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps), and inner city youth from the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, a non-profit conservation group, to work on the Island conducting invasive plant removal.
"Because the plants, animals and the land as a whole cannot tell us what is ailing them, we as scientists must figure this out through research and experimentation," Knapp says. "Some doctors prescribe medication to treat a symptom, while others give a thorough physical to determine what really is the problem, then work with the patient to determine how to prevent the illness altogether."
To give Catalina its physical, Knapp burned out three pairs of hiking boots walking 450 miles, boating 52 miles and driving 150 miles on a reconnaissance mission in search of invasive plants on the Island. He has generated an impressive geographical information systems (GIS) database in order to protect a unique island ecosystem and six native plant species that are found on Catalina and nowhere else in the world. His mission resulted in recording more than 37,000 populations of 76 invasive plant species, and ranking them for priority of control.
"We now know which invasive plants are affecting the health of the Island, where they are, and how to treat them," Knapp says.
Through the newly implemented Catalina Habitat Restoration and Improvement Program (CHIRP), Knapp says that he can perform immediate surgery for the pain the Island is feeling by removing tumors (weeds) with little impact to the surrounding tissue (land), while concurrently implementing long-term control efforts to head off dangerous invasive plant species before they take root.
Now that we have given the Island a thorough physical, we can prescribe a remedy that truly addresses the problem, that is, preserve our native biodiversity. Ultimately, the Conservancy is not about controlling invasive plants, but protecting what they threaten - Catalina's natural heritage. "Until you truly assess the threats to the health of the land, you will not be able to prescribe the correct remedy, and on Catalina, we have done that," concludes Knapp. "Our planning efforts and the framework for our program can be a model for conservation worldwide," Knapp said. |
