One of your members -- Rachel -- wrote about Reed Canary grass. As an ecologist I feel it is important to remind her of the dangers of promoting non-native species in our precious prairies, wetlands and forests. We have so little preserved ecosystem left we cannot allow non-natives to take over habitat. Non-native grasses such as reed canary grass grow so well because they are in an ecosystem with no natural predators. Usually that means that they outlive and survive longer than the natives. Eventually this leads to extirpation of native grasses which are often better food and habitat for native wildlife.
It's hard to believe how dangerous a non-native grass can be, but I can only explain by sharing with you that many species have already become extinct because of non-natives -- plants and animals. The earth is a delicate balance of life that is extremely difficult to understand.
I wish that I knew more about the canary grass itself to explain the ills, but it will take some research. Often the extension agency nearby can explain ways to take care of it and why it is bad for the ecosystem.
It is also important to recognize that many non-native species have begun to take over natural systems because they have escaped from gardens or farms. Pollen flies with the wind and with some species it is especially difficult to stop their spread (birds eat seeds of honeysuckle and before you know it they are leaving them behind all over the forests and your woods are no longer woods, they are a mass of honeysuckle brush -- I know because I've had to chop them out).
If you want more information, I can try to help. Mostly I just wanted your community to be aware of the very real dangers of using non-native species over indigenous plants.
Nicole Czarnomsky
Oregon
Nicole, we really appreciate your concern about invasive non native species. It is a problem we folks here at Dancing Rabbit are very concerned about as well. We are currently planting native grasses and trees in several areas through the landtrust property. We have also performed controlled burns to help create conditions that are encouraging for native prarie grasses.
However, much of our land is damaged from many years of conventional cattle and crop farming. We have some highly erodable (and eroding) areas where nothing is growing to hold the soil. We are considering experimenting with using reeds canarygrass as a temporary solution to help rebuild the soil in that area. Since about 90% of our grassland is covered with non native species already, using the tenacious alien to help prevent erosion may not be so destructive in this area that is already overrun with non native species. Again, we would expect this only be a temporary solution to preserve the soil until we are able to convert more of our property back to native grasses.
The people at the conservation office and extension have not provided us with many options (although they have generally been an excellent resource for us). If any of our readers have information or a reference to a source that could tell us about a native grass that is well suited to preventing erosion, please let us know about it.
We really appreciate knowing that there are other folks watching out for the very serious problem of invasive plants taking over our countryside.
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