Nature's Revenge

Editorial from today's New York Times

The damage caused by a hurricane like Katrina is almost always called a natural disaster. But it is also unnatural, in the sense that much of it is self-inflicted. New Orleans is no exception, and while the city has been spared a direct hit from the storm, its politicians and planners must rethink the bad policies that contributed to the city's vulnerability.

An immediate priority is for the Senate to restore some $70 million that the House, in a singular act of poor timing, slashed from the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for the New Orleans district. The cuts could hurt the corps' ability to rebuild levees protecting the city. Meanwhile, the city itself must attend to a pumping system that is much in need of upgrading.

At the same time, there must also be an honest recognition of the fact that no amount of engineering - levees, sea walls, pumping systems, satellite tracking systems - can fully bring nature to heel. Indeed, the evidence is indisputable that systematic levee-building along the Mississippi upstream of New Orleans has blocked much of the natural flow of silt into the delta. That, in turn, has caused the delta to subside and made the city and its environs even more vulnerable to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which itself has been rising.

Upstream levee-building has also had the effect of turning a sluggish river into a fire hose, helping to destroy marshes and barrier islands that once provided some protection. The steady destruction of coastal wetlands by residential development and years of oil and gas drilling hasn't helped much either. The combination of subsiding land and rising seas has put the Mississippi Delta about three feet lower than it was 100 years ago.

All this, in turn, lends urgency to plans proposed by Louisiana politicians to restore natural hurricane protections by diverting water and silt from the river to coastal marshes and wetlands, and by rebuilding barrier islands. The effort is expected to take more than 40 years and cost an estimated $14 billion, substantially more than the $8 billion Everglades restoration project.

The administration budgeted $20 million for the project this year, mainly for the necessary planning studies. A lot more than that is going to be needed. New Orleans must learn to take care of nature if it hopes to survive it.

White Island Plant Walk

This is the chronicle of the rest of my day in Marine Park, where I was to lead a Torrey Botanical Society plant walk.

White Island is a 73-acre former sand bar in the middle of Marine Park Creek. From the 1940s to 1960s, the site was built up through the addition of household garbage and sand. Areas with little sand cover and thus high levels of nutrients support Phragmites and mugwort. Note the sand bags in the photo below - these were put in place to keep the household garbage, the structural foundation of the island - from washing away.



The sections of the island harboring stockpiled sand today support a diverse array of grassland plants. But to get there, you have to hack your way through what seems like miles of Phragmites. It seemed like miles because I am sure it was miles...but only because my sense of direction was off. It took me quite a while to relocate the open grassland.

But finally I did. And it was like discovering a wonderland.

Eragrostis spectabilis, purple love grass

Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, sweet everlasting

Solidago juncea, early goldenrod

Plants of White Island in Marine Park, Brooklyn (partial flora)
Torrey Plant Walk August 28, 2005

Typical Native Grassland Species

HERBS – Flat-topped goldenrod (Euthamia tenuifolia), sweet everlasting (Gnaphalium obtusifolium), pinweed (Lechea maritima), jointweed (Polygonella articulata), saltwort (Salsola kali), early goldenrod (Solidago juncea), seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens);

VINES - northern dewberry (Rubus flagellaris);

GRASSES – beach-grass (Ammophila breviligulata), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), 3-awn grass (Aristida tuberculosa), purple love grass (Erigrostis spectabilis), panic grass (Panicum villosissimum), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium);

SHRUBS – false heather (Hudsonia tomentosa), northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), winged sumac (Rhus copallinum), poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans).

OTHER SPECIES FOUND (* = exotic, ! = invasive)

HERBS – common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)*!, common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa)*, horseweed (Conyza canadensis), winged pigweed (Cycloloma atriplicifolium)*, white snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum), bedstraw (Galium mollugo)*, camphorweed (Heterotheca subaxillaris)*, yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta), pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), lady's thumb (Polygonum persicaria)*, sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella)*, horse-nettle (Solanum carolinense)*, black nightshade (Solanum nigrum)*, sand spurrey (Spergularia rubra)*, common mullein (Verbascum thapsus)*;

VINES – hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium), Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculata)*!, Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia);

GRASSES – silver hairgrass (Corynephorus canescens)*, common reed (Phragmites australis)*!;

SHRUBS – Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii)*!, autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata)*!, wrinkled rose (Rosa rugosa)*;

TREES – tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima)*!, white mulberry (Morus alba)*!, black cherry (Prunus serotina), green ash (Fraxinus pensylvanica).

Unprepared

I always do this. I talk myself out of bringing along some obviously essential item because my field pack is too heavy. That is how I ended up this morning at the salt marsh of Marine Park without my boots.

To be fair, I had planned to stay out of the marsh itself, checking out the flora that rimmed the wet areas. I have seen Spartina alterniflora often enough that I could go without an up-close-&-personal viewing. What I didn't plan on was a poacher.

In the midst of my vegetative reverie, a middle-aged Asian man with a hand cart filled with tools & bags walked confidently by me. Suspicious. Sure enough, he proceeded to walk into the muck, pull out a tool & rake the marsh for mollusks. As you may have suspected, removal of anything from a park is illegal, especially the very animal life we are trying to conserve.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but you can't do that."
Nothing
"Excuse me, sir, you can't do that!"
Now he looks at me & smiles.
"Sir, you will have to stop that! You aren't allowed to do that!"
He shrugs his shoulders & gives me this look like he doesn't know what I'm talking about. So then I was reduced to repeating "No!" & "Stop!" while I walked out after him. I tried to stay dry, hopping from tussock to tussock, but that became futile after 5 minutes, when I slipped & went in to my knee. That's the thing with muck, you never know how deep it is.

By the time I reached him, he had out what I swear was a harpoon & was jabbing the water vigorously. He seemed to finally get it, & proceeded to leave without more protestation from me. As I climbed out of the low marsh, I watched him leave, cart in tow. I was so satisfied in having put an end to a poacher. I felt good.

Ten minutes later, I was in the nature center. This is a nice building which takes full advantage of the superb views with its large windows. As I was admiring the marsh, in the distance I saw a blue speck moving purposefully along the edge of the Spartina grasses.

BBQ

Today, I was in Bronx River Park, monitoring a recently completed restoration project where much native wetland vegetation had been planted in place of Japanese knotweed. We were taking a lunch break, & relunctantly decided that we also needed to use the restrooms (which are horrifying on so many levels). As we approached the building, I smelled smoke. The source of the billowing gray plumes? A clean cut sixteen year old kid. He had an interesting little set up, as you can see from the photo.

"Put it out!" I yelled. He responded as if underwater, all movement slow & deliberate. He did make some attempts to squelch the raging fire, none of them very impressive. Meanwhile I was fuming. It hasn't rained in weeks! What if this had gotten out of control? Fortunately it was rather far from the forest. Unfortunately it was right next to the playground & adjacent to the Metro-North train line. Obviously, I was not dealing with the sharpest knife in the drawer.

He finally climbed up, out of the pit, to speak to me. He had an innocent face & indescipherable language skills.

"Da ya wa sa ra?"
"What?!?"
"Da ya wa sa ra?"
"Again, what?"
"Da ya wa sa ra?"
"I have no idea what you are trying to say."
"Ra! Ra! Ra!"
At which point, he holds out his hands to offer me - not "ra", but "ribs".

"They're good. I make good bar-be-cue"
"Well, there are facilities in other parts of the park where you can cook out to your heart's content. But you cannot do it here. We don't allow make-shift grilling."
"Oh. But they're gooooooood."
"No doubt, but you'll have to find yourself another place to hone your culinary skills."

During the course of our little tete-a-tete, he began to walk closer & closer to me. Finally, I told him he was welcome to stay & wait with me for the police to arrive.

After an "oh, man!", he hoped on his bike, pre-packed with his cooking gear & rode away. It was then I noticed the goulish Halloween mask attached to his milkcrate full of tools.

HGG: Canada St. Johnswort

In today's installment of "Home Grown Greenery" we take a closer look at Hypericum canadense (Canada St. Johnswort). This native species is a member of the Clusiaceae or Mangosteen family. As you may have guessed, this family has its center of diversity in the tropics, with a few genera found in the more temperate climes. In fact, trees & shrubs are the more common plants found in this family, which makes the herbaceous H. canadense all the more intriguing.

Canada St. Johnswort may be an annual or perennial, but is always diminuitive, growing only to 20 inches tall. As with other Hypericum species, its leaves are opposite from each other, & alternate at 12/6 o'clock & 3/9 o'clock. Thus as one looks down the stem from above, they notice a cross pattern. This is the derivation of "St. John" (wort is the Old English word for plant).

From July through September, tiny, 5-petaled, yellow flowers appear on the tips of every stem. If pollinated, fruits develop - dark red conical capsules containing many small seeds.

The best place to find Canada St. Johnswort is in open, sunny, poorly drained areas such as marshes. This particular plant was found in southern Staten Island in an area of sandy glacial outwash with ribbons of clay soils. This plant is rare in NYC, as are its brethren - there are 5 other Hypericum species in the five boroughs, four are native, all are uncommon. One of the biggest threats to its future is the encroachment of trees & shrubs - shaded out by woody species as a result of succession. This is, of course, with the understanding that the biggest threats to our flora are always lack of conservation leadership. NYC natural areas have been destroyed through development & degraded by exotic invasives.

Butterflyweed as cut flowers

I bought this bunch of butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) today at the Greenmarket. Most people think "weeds" when native plants are mentioned, but you have to admit that these are striking.

Jewelweed Runs Amok in England

Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), native here, invasive abroad.

Our ubiquitous jewelweed is an unwelcome visitor in England. Eric von Wettberg is studying the species genetic bottleneck in its adopted digs. Since a small number of individuals made the initial invasion, he is looking at how the plant has evolved its shade avoidance response (by which plants fit their growth patterns and phenology to maximize their success under a range of light conditions) to fit its new environs.

More on his work

An Alien Invader Spawns a Species

From the Christian Science Monitor:
The influence wrought by invasive species could fuel an "explosion" of ecological change "to levels beyond all expectation."

Why didn't I think of this?

Yes of course! The forest is full of birds! And to think, all these years, I had been assuming that their appetites were sated by the abundant fruits, seeds, & insects that forests naturally provide them. Oh, what a fool I have been!

As seen in Bronx River Park

Organic farms 'best for wildlife'

Organic farms are better for wildlife than those run conventionally, according to a study covering 180 farms from Cornwall to Cumbria.

The organic farms were found to contain 85% more plant species, 33% more bats, 17% more spiders and 5% more birds.

Read article from BBC news

Ultra-violet Flowers

This website is a wonderful introduction to the world according to insects. It is easy for us humans to forget that flowers look as they do not to draw satified sighs from gardeners but to attract potential pollinators - critical to their survival. And what we see is not the whole story.

Here is Pacific silverweed (Potentilla anserina) to humans:










And here is what insects see: