and the B word (biodiversity)
biodiversity is a word that makes my skin crawl...it's used to justify destroying established habitats, killing plants and animals, and poisoning landscapes to encourage a wider variety of plants.. and it ignores the reality of dispersal..animals, water and wind disperse seeds all the time..you can't control that!! so I heard that Lookout Park in Summerland was being remade into a native-only park meaning they were ripping out nonnatives and planting natives. I took a deep breath and put on my boxing gloves and hit the bag a few hundred times..there, I'm calming down but still pissed. I get the cameras and go down to check it out..lucky for me two guys from the nonprofit Channel Island Restoration were there admiring their work...I went over to the edge of the hillside to take some pictures..one guy came over and smiled and said "well, what you think?" I looked at him and started screaming "what 
the censored are you doing!!" his smile disappeared and he said "excuse me?"
I said.. WUT THE censored ARE YOU DOING THAT FOR?" then he stopped talking.. his boss came up and I read him the riot act, too, about the native-only cult, the teaching of intolerance to kids...I went on and on and they stood there and listened..eventually I calmed down and the boss guy, Ken, started explaining what he was doing..we debated back and forth the merits of killing every non native living thing in California and he assured me that's not their purpose..he said he actually tells kids some non natives are good, but I could sense he was programmed against telling too many good things about no
nnatives.. The County of SB ag office contracted CIR ( they get money from taxpayers and donations!! double dippers) to rip out arundo on the hillside for erosion control..and that is what he's doing..and planting native plants which will not be a monoculture... biodiversity, a diverse plant community, will help prevent erosion according them..I informed them that the hillsides in Summerland have been slipping and sliding forever and will continue to slide due to gravity and not because of any particular plant, but since the damage was done, I said I'd be back in a few months to take pictures...now, I get that arundo grows fast and competes better than natives, and some control is ok, but all these nonnatives are not as bad as you think...before I went to Summerland, I checked the CIR website out and they have hundreds of plants on the hit list from olives to fennel to thistle..CIR/experience.htm
the censored are you doing!!" his smile disappeared and he said "excuse me?"I said.. WUT THE censored ARE YOU DOING THAT FOR?" then he stopped talking.. his boss came up and I read him the riot act, too, about the native-only cult, the teaching of intolerance to kids...I went on and on and they stood there and listened..eventually I calmed down and the boss guy, Ken, started explaining what he was doing..we debated back and forth the merits of killing every non native living thing in California and he assured me that's not their purpose..he said he actually tells kids some non natives are good, but I could sense he was programmed against telling too many good things about no
nnatives.. The County of SB ag office contracted CIR ( they get money from taxpayers and donations!! double dippers) to rip out arundo on the hillside for erosion control..and that is what he's doing..and planting native plants which will not be a monoculture... biodiversity, a diverse plant community, will help prevent erosion according them..I informed them that the hillsides in Summerland have been slipping and sliding forever and will continue to slide due to gravity and not because of any particular plant, but since the damage was done, I said I'd be back in a few months to take pictures...now, I get that arundo grows fast and competes better than natives, and some control is ok, but all these nonnatives are not as bad as you think...before I went to Summerland, I checked the CIR website out and they have hundreds of plants on the hit list from olives to fennel to thistle..CIR/experience.htmall perfectly fine nonnatives that provide food and shelter for many animals, purple finches like purple thistle for their nests! I told the guys that their mission to plant natives is fine, but it seems the extremists have taken over with junk science and intolernace for non-natives..and if they teach this stuff to kids, I'd be all over them...Ken insisted he didn't teach intolerance..we talked about the destructive restoration on the Channel Islands, the killing and poisoning, the fact that some golden eagles have returned, and he said "well... at least the islands haven't been developed."... I apologized for jumping down their throats but said I'd keep an eye on them and the Eucalyptus at the park...cut those down and I'll be back with the army!!
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