Loosestrife -
 
 
[SNIP]
 
        B> RELEASE ALREADY APPROVED BEETLES: Service would release the two
        beetles when they have been bred without internal parasites.
 
        C> BIOLOGICAL CONTROL: Release three additional bettle species that
        are host specific to purple loosetrife. Long-term, continuous control,
        not eradication.
 
        Well I ask you all to join with me in requesting the EA and making
        your personal comments to the Fish & Wildlife Service and support
        NO ACTION as an alternative to the release of any kind of new pests.
 
        PURPLE LOOSETRIFE IS AN VALUABLE NATURALIZED ENVIRONMENTAL
        RESOURCE TO BEES AND THEIR KEEPERS THAT SHOULD BE PROTECTED
 
If you were in natural areas management you would disagree.
PURPLE LOOSTRIFE IS AN EXOTIC PEST THAT HAS ALREADY RUINED
UNTOLD AREAS OF WETLAND FOR NATIVE FAUNA.
It forms monocultures that obliterate native plants
and the animals that depend on them, and is nearly impossible to
get rid of.  We'll be lucky if we do it any harm at all.
 
        this beautiful naturalized wild flower that has improved the
        environment for bees and other insects and added much to the natural
        beauty of our swamps, waterways, and gardens.
 
It is an EXOTIC that in the last 50 years has destroyed
the native environment wherever it goes.
 
        well to remember that the loss of bee forage plants native or
        naturalized, flowers like Purple Loosetrife can not be replaced in any
        person's lifetime,
 
Let's pray that we do not see anything like it again!
 
        and more then likely will not be replace at all.
 
Nor will the natural areas it has already wiped out.
 
        Purple Loosetrife is also a pasture plant for Bumble Bee's of one
        stripe or another.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong - but I don't think it's an importnat
Bombus plant.
 
        plants related to Loosetrife. This means two or more native wild
        flowers will be the secondary target and will be lost or damaged.
 
True and worrisome.  The beetles eat other loosestrifes too.
 
        and these pests take a liking for plants of critical importance to
        beekeeper's like the Wild Buckwheat or Sage of California or any other
        cultivated or wild flower.
 
No, I think they are specific to loosestrifes.
 
           Here is a group of destructive insect pests,
 
This is pure rhetoric.  If the plant is a pest, the insects that eat it
are not.
OR, if you want to call all plant-eating insects pests, I suppose
you could.
 
        have never demonstrated any ability in their native land to eradicate
        Purple Loosetrife,
 
That's right - they don't eradicate it.  BUT they keep it under control,
just enough that it doesn't take over every damp landscape it enters.
So there are checks and balances, it doesn't run rampant, just grows
'normally'.
 
        tell them, get the EA and make your comments before July 12, 1995.
 
Yes.
 
Liz Day
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Indianapolis, Indiana, USA