I have been watching the moonscaping of my county my entire life. It's usually done with the alleged purpose of eradicating some so called noxious weed. When I was a child, the county commissioners were determined to eradicate dyers woad. So they started a
spray campaign. The broadleaved wild-flowers basically disappeared, as the county sprayed willy-nilly -- any stand of plants with yellow flowers in the spring, regardless of species, regardless of what else was growing there. Regardless of whether or not the ecosystem looked like a moonscape when they were done. The county acted like a Gestapo, threatening
people with violence if they didn't remove dyers woad from their
land, barging onto to people's land, and poisoning the land, and then adding insult to injury by sending a bill for the poisoning service. Even as a child, this sort of behavior, over a plant, caused me to have a life-long and abiding disrespect for
native plant enthusiasts, and for the government bureaucrats that do the bidding of native-only believers.
The war against dyers woad was lost before it even started. 50 years later, dyers woad still grows in a few niche micro-environments, just like it did before. It doesn't grow on north facing slopes, nor in the shade. It doesn't thrive anywhere that sheep are grazed. It has a very narrow micro-environment where it thrives, and it doesn't stray far from it. Sure, it has a brilliant floral display in the spring, and the seeds are slightly burry in the fall, but other than that, it's just a plant living in a niche-environment. Lots of other plants grow right along side it. I suppose that millions of dollars and hours have been spent on trying to eradicate a species that could not have been eradicated. Mother nature has a lots bigger budget than puny man.
So why, in the name of preservation, would someone moonscape an ecosystem? I see it with other species in other micro-environments. I shake my head in dismay... I don't care if the phragmites growing in the
local swamp are a hybrid with European phragmites. A phragmite growing in the swamp is still just a phragmite growing in the swamp. If they are close
enough genetically to hybridize with each other, then I'd call them the same species anyway, regardless of where the genetics were located some hundreds of years ago.
I don't care if tamarisk and Russian olive grow in my county. Whatever. A tree is a tree. And I hate the constant moonscaping that do-gooders engage in to try to eradicate them. With my own eyes, I never observe the alleged mono-cultures that are imputed to so-called invasive species. I see them growing in clumps sometimes, with plenty of wildlife, insects, and other plants growing right alongside them. I don't observe "disasters" with my own eyes. I just see plants growing and providing ecosystem services. I live in a continental ecosystem. Perhaps your mileage may vary on an island, but I'm unlikely to ever even visit an island.
On dark-nights-of-the-soul, I
think of natives-only ideas as being merely a ploy by the
chemical companies as a way to
sell more poisons.
Wow Joseph... Tell us how you really feel.... LOL!