Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Russian Olive
Date: Apr 4 08:03:54 2006
From: Mike Patterson - celata at pacifier.com


This is a more complicated issue than good/bad.

There is no doubt that Russian Olive provide good bird habitat
just as there is no doubt that Eurasian Blackberry provides
good habitat. I've seen many an interesting rarity in the Russian
Olive patches at Malheur.

Does it provide the best habitat? That's a harder question.

I can speak with some confidence about blackberry. In a head
to head contest with a healthy, diverse patch of native analogs
a blackberry patch is less diverse. I would bet that the same would
be true of Russian Olive.

But here's the problem. There is a lag between the time one removes
blackberry and the native analogs come in properly, sometimes years.
Managers often replace blackberry with something that can easily be
mowed (not native shrub analogs). If the area is being managed for
native shrubs, one is obliged to intensively exclude deer, elk, beaver,
voles, all manner of species that find these new plants delicious, at
least until they become self-sustaining. Absence of large carnivores
has complicated herbivore management.

In the land of Russian Olives there are cows. Exclude cows from a
riparian corridor and you get much more than Russian Olive and
there are some excellent examples of this at Malheur.

Russian Olive should not be removed just because its a non-native
(as is all too often the mindset). There should be a plan for
replacement with native analogs. The plan needs to include permanent
exclusion of cattle and short-term exclusion of all native herbivores.
It needs to be done in a step-wise program that retains habitat
values provided by the olives until the natives can take over.

Otherwise, the Russian Olive should be left alone.

On the other hand. Scotch Broom, Salt Cedar, Ivy should all be removed
with extreme prejudice.....

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

Scale, nature and our infinite capacity to rationalize
http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/003674.html