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* this reply doesn't distinguish between the native and invasive forms of Phragmites. fred. ----------------------------------- On 15-Jun.-20 7:16 p.m., David Webster wrote: > Some decades ago the east coast had this "dire problem" of purple > loosestrife. The seeds of this plant float in water so it spread down > ditches rapidly and the ditches became full of this plant. This was > perceived to be a problem ! When in fact free erosion control was really > a blessing. > > Phragmites does very well in saline or fresh soils or swamps where > nothing else can grow well. In the Netherlands it has been used for many > generations to ripen polders recently partioned from the sea. Because > the plants has much aerenchyma in the rhizomes it can prosper in > anaerobic, structureless, undrainable soil. And decay of these rhizomes > overtime gradually generates structured, fertile, drainable soil. > > In NS it has become far more widespread than it was 70 years ago > due to mowing of 100 series ditches and I presume accidental spreading > of rhizomes on machinery parts. > > No doubt the Tantramar marshes have a problem; an ocean which keeps > rising. > > Phragmites will hold soil briefly while the powers that be decide > whether or not to continue protecting rail and highway links with NB. > But a plant which buys even a bit of time should be welcome. > > In view of the Genuine Problem; man made Climate change and the > need to switch from fossil fuels to renewables ASAP, I wonder about the > potential for power generation across the Isthmus of Chignecto. Bay of > Fundy has a very large tidal range. The Northumberland Strait has a much > smaller range. The head would be small but I wonder if this has been > investigated. > > I understand that a very large ice shelf in NW Antarctica is being > undercut by ocean currents and record high temperatures there. The land > end of this shelf slows the flow of glacial ice into the ocean. If this > shelf were to break free a rise of the ocean of 100 feet over 100 years > is projected. > > Worrying about this will not slow temperature rise down south. But > appreciating that climate change can be slowed by leaving fossil fuel in > the ground, and giving the transition to renewables top priority will. > > YT, DW, Kentville > > On 6/15/2020 12:08 PM, Frederick W. Schueler wrote: >> Listening to the discussion of the Tantramar marshes on the Sunday >> Edition yesterday, and not hearing any discussion of invasive European >> Phragmites there, I'm forwarding this warning from 2004, and from 2010 >> - >> https://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/2010/10/view-from-beausejour.html >> - in the hopes that there's some possibility of action. >> >> from the 2010 report: "This is the one place in the Maritimes where >> the invasive European Phragmites australis subspecies australis has >> been reported, so we are interested in seeing how conditions here >> compare to what we'd observed elsewhere in New Brunswick and Nova >> Scotia... we drove the busy road across the marshes both ways, >> waypointing stands and taking representative specimens... >> >> "The first thing we noticed was that the stands were very distinctly >> divided into native-like and invasive-like kinds: we counted 11 alien >> and 7 native stands, and only 1 that we called ambiguous, though the >> natives graded out into little whisps, and we doubtless missed some of >> these which an observer on foot could have waypointed. The most >> striking feature of this difference was the persistent green foliage >> of the aliens, in contrast to the shriveled get-ready-for-winter brown >> of the natives (one often sees that alien plants from NW Europe retain >> green leaves far longer than native plants do). >> >> "Those on NatureNS will remember that throughout Nova Scotia we were >> perplexed by the intermediacy and confusing morphology of the majority >> of the Phragmites stands we sampled there: at Tantramar there was no >> ambiguity, and the natives didn't look much different from the ones we >> see in Ontario". >> >> Those of us in Ontario have seen how completely the invasive >> Phragmites can take over wide areas, and really wish action could be >> taken in the Maritimes before the task becomes impossible. >> >> fred. >> ==================================================== >> >> -------- Forwarded Message -------- >> Subject: Catling & company on invasive Phragmites in the Maritimes (& >> Nfld) >> Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 10:39:08 -0500 >> From: Frederick W. Schueler <bckcdb@istar.ca> >> Organization: Bishops Mills Natural History Centre >> To: NATURENB@LISTSERV.UNB.CA <NATURENB@LISTSERV.UNB.CA> >> >> New Brunswickers, >> >> I urge you to read the appended article (which has just come out in >> BEN), very carefully, and to take action to suppress stands of the alien >> race. All you need to do is to drive along the eastern shore of NB, and >> then drive along the shore roads of New Jersey (solid alien Phragmites >> as far as the eye can see), to envisage just what you don't want your >> province to become. The Fundy shore is more different from New Jersey, >> so the geomorphic comparison isn't so close, but solid stands of >> Phragmites would be equally undesireable there. >> >> fred. >> ------------------------------------------------------------ >> ------------------------------------------------------------ >> BOTANICAL ELECTRONIC NEWS No. 324, March 16, 2004 >> <aceska@victoria.tc.ca> Victoria, B.C. >> ----------------------------------------------------------- >> Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2 >> ----------------------------------------------------------- >> >> STATUS OF THE ALIEN RACE OF COMMON REED (_PHRAGMITES AUSTRALIS_) >> IN THE CANADIAN MARITIME PROVINCES >> From: Paul M. Catling*, Gisele Mitrow*, Lynn Black*, Susan >> Carbyn** >> * Agriculture and AgriFood Canada, >> Environmental Health, Biodiversity, >> Saunders Bldg., C.E.F., Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C6 >> catlingp@agr.gc.ca >> **Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada >> Environmental Health, Biodiversity >> 32 Main Street, Kentville, Nova Scotia B4N 1J5 >> >> An alien race of Common Reed (presumably the European _Phrag- >> mites australis_ (Cav.) Trin. ssp. _australis_) has been rapidly >> spreading along roadsides and invading and domin