GOOD NEWS ABOUT SCOTCH BROOM.

On June 7th of this year,  I blogged about the beautiful but invasive plant, Scotch Broom. Impossible to eradicate because the seeds can live 100 years. It has taken over the state of Washington and interferes with native plants. I copped a picture from a local newspaper:

It isn't a good enough picture to recognize the plant along the roadside, but even so, be aware that in our convoluted laws, we can't get a ban on selling this plant until it is proven a nuisance. By then, of course, it is too late. I put out a petition in June, hoping to get a change in that law and a congresswoman from Oregon responded saying she had a bill going through the state legislature to change that type of backward process in Oregon.

Now, the good news is, in nearby El Dorado County, a mite was discovered that attacks the scotch broom and could keep it in check. While good news, it hasn't happened yet, but remember, don't buy and don't plant scotch broom. Find a pretty yellow flowering plant that looks just as good. And, when you are in a nursery, remind your favorite nursery owner, if he'll voluntarily chose not to sell it and advertise the negatives of scotch broom and recommend a better plant.
Today, I hope to pick the last of my apples and clean up underneath them. It was a real treat to have a heavy rain and not have to carry bath water out to my plants.

I hope the people in the burn area have seen some good come from this rain, though I know some feared it would  cause mud slides and erosion. A big mess no one needs after this horrible fire.
Even so, let us not pretend we can or should control the weather. Every time man interferes with the natural order of things, we wind up with disasters. Well, maybe not every time.  Enough said.

MARY MATZEK

REVISITING BEAUTIFUL INVADER.

By Mary Matzek on June 7, 2015 6:13 AM

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At a local nursery, I bought the beautiful plant, scotch broom.
I bought Scotch Broom and now have to spend the rest of my life trying to rid my property of it. If I had known it is a take-over horror that interferes with natural plants, animals, birds, sidewalks and parking lots; it gravitates and fills clear cuts and that the seeds last 100 years I wouldn’t have bought it.
I began to wonder why a pesty invader like scotch broom is allowed to be sold at nurseries? I learned that “Invasive plants are considered innocent until proven guilty.” By then, they are out of control and cost millions to eradicate-when possible. Why allow nurseries to sell invasive foreign species? At least labeling should be required. Simple testing first would save billions. I have scotch broom at my house in Murphys and also on my property in Oregon. That’s why I created a petition to The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama, Governor Jerry Brown, The Oregon State House, The Oregon State Senate, Governor Kate Brown, which says:

My petition asks that we save the West from scotch broom. It has invaded Washington State beyond redemption. In Oregon there is still hope of controlling it. In California, it is making inroads And plants all over the united states have had a similar affect like kudzu, giant hogweed, Russian olive, Japanese Honeysuckle. In fact here is a list of plants to watch for. Don’t buy them.

Invasive Plants Air Potato (Dioscorea bulbifera) Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) Beach Vitex (Vitex rotundifolia) Brazilian Peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolius) Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense) Chinese Tallow (Triadica sebifera) Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) Common Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) Dalmatian Toadflax (Linaria dalmatica) Diffuse Knapweed (Centaurea diffusa) Downy Brome (Bromus tectorum) Fig Buttercup (Ficaria verna) Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) Golden Bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) Hairy Whitetop (Lepidium appelianum) Houndstongue (Cynoglossum officinale) Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) Japanese Climbing Fern (Lygodium japonicum) Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) Japanese Spiraea (Spiraea japonica) Japanese Stilt Grass (Microstegium vimineum) Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense) Kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata) Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula) Medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae) Mile-A-Minute Weed (Persicaria perfoliata) Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans) Old World Climbing Fern (Lygodium microphyllum) Oriental Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) Princess Tree (Paulownia tomentosa) Purple Star Thistle (Centaurea calcitrapa) Quackgrass (Elymus repens) Russian Knapweed (Rhaponticum repens) Russian Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) Saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) St. Johnswort (Hypericum perforatum) Sacred Bamboo (Nandina domestica) Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) Scotch Thistle (Onopordum acanthium) Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) Tropical Soda Apple (Solanum viarum) Whitetop (Lepidium draba) Witchweed (Striga asiatica) Yellow Star Thistle (Centaurea solstitialis) Yellow Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris)

Will you sign this petition? I’ve repeated my blog because friends complained the link did not work. I believe I’ve fixed it and I believe the subject was worth revisiting.
Click here:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/save-the-west-from-scotch?source=c.em.cp&r_by=13097902

If it doesn't work, copy and paste it to your url.

VALLEY OF THE ROGUE STATE PARK.

The weather was perfect, warm and balmy with a lovely breeze blowing off the river. We are staying at the Valley of the Rogue State Park with walking trails next to the mighty Rogue River. It was protected as a wild and scenic river under the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.  Located in southwestern Oregon, it flows 215 miles from Crater Lake to the Pacific Ocean. The 84 mile, Congressionally designated "National Wild and Scenic" portion of the Rogue begins 7 miles west of Grants Pass and ends 11 miles east of Gold Beach.


On the river path, several well warn spots from former campers provides access to swim in the river if you want to, at your own risk, of course. At this spot, someone built a stone pool, maybe to entrap salmon, or maybe to take a safe dunk.


The park has a salmon viewing platform and from all information gathered, the spawning season is upon us, Sept. and Oct. But we didn't see one jumping salmon in the Rogue.  We are here because I have property at East Evans Creek. It flows into the Rogue. My place was flooded, not by wild lands flooding, but frozen and broken pipes on the inside destroyed it beyond redemption. We had to stay here because my son is in the process of building on my place, and cement trucks need the turn around space.


The park used to have beautiful views of the mountains. Now, they have the scar of a clear cut. I hate mentioning negatives, but if we ignore them, nothing changes. Clear cuts are not necessary to sustain a lumber industry. Sustainable logging is not only possible, but healthier for birds, animals, insects, rivers, watershed, air quality and their industry. Greed is the defining push for clear cutting. Every one I see angers me.

In fact, coastal Washington and areas of Oregon have been taken over by an invasive but beautiful plant, scotch broom. Not on this trip, but another, we've seen entire clear cuts filled with scotch broom preventing native plants from re-growth.  What puzzles me is why nurseries in Washington, Oregon and California allow the sale of invasive species?

The park is spacious, and well treed. But it too, is a victim of invasive star thistle. We walked through patches of it on our way to the trails. Even so,  I can imagine the beauty of this park, what it once looked like. Green and beautiful, a refreshing river. And, I'm grateful for whatever pieces of our wild land heritage we can save to savor what this land was like in the past.