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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ron who wrote (6662)	6/9/2006 4:17:10 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 36917

lololol, they will say anything to get money

To: Ron who wrote (6662)	6/10/2006 9:18:20 AM
From: ~digs	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 36917

Invasive Beach Vitex Threatens Carolinas apnews.myway.com JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) - It has pretty purple flowers, but that's about the only good thing naturalists have to say about the "kudzu of the coast" - beach vitex. A two-state task force is trying to figure out how to cope with the invasive shrub, officially known as vitex rotundiflora, which threatens to choke out native species along the coastlines of North Carolina and South Carolina. "If we don't do something now, then in 50 years or 100 years, or however long it takes, it will be the kudzu of the coast," said David Nash, a dune plant expert with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Like the kudzu vine, a Japanese plant that drapes road embankments and other open areas across the Southeast, beach vitex was brought to the United States with good intentions. The shrub is a native to Korea and other countries in the western Pacific, and was introduced to the southeastern United States in the mid-1980s as an ornamental to help with dune stabilization. It has been reported from Ocracoke Island to Folly Beach, S.C., and has also been seen on Florida and Alabama shorelines. The shrub grows rapidly, rising 1 to 2 feet high, reaching up to 12 feet in diameter and producing runners up to 60 feet long. That means it could crowd out sea oats and the threatened seabeach amaranth. "It's attractive; I won't take that away from it," said Nash, North Carolina's coordinator for the Carolinas Beach Vitex Task Force. "The biggest problem is that it is very aggressive. None of the native plants can keep up with it." The panel's mission is to locate, document and eradicate the plant before it gets out of control. Beach vitex is also not terribly useful in controlling erosion. It lacks a fibrous root system and doesn't collect sand for dune construction. "I can't say it is any better than a native plant," Nash said. Nash recently made a presentation to Bogue Banks residents to show them how to recognize the plant. The task force wants the public to keep an eye on the shrub, but not remove it - simply record the location of any sightings and report them to the task force. The plant has round, grayish-green leaves about 1 to 2 inches long that give off a scent like eucalyptus when broken. In the summer, it blossoms with delicate purple flowers. It adapts well to coastal conditions and is a prolific seed producer - a rate of 3,000 viable seeds per square meter, which can be spread in the surf. Emerald Isle resident Sharon Lewis has worked hard to build up and protect the dunes in front of her oceanfront lot. She worries that beach vitex might take over. "I've worked like crazy to build up the dunes and I don't want to see this happen," she said, pointing to a patch of the menacing plant as she and other members of Nash's audience carried the instruction session outside. Experts also worry about the plant's impact on turtle nesting. Task force members say hatchlings could become trapped in its thick foliage, though they have no scientific studies to back up that fear. "The people who planted them thought they were doing a good thing; there was more vegetation on the beach," Nash said. "It is a live and learn situation and it's better to deal with it now." --- On the Net: Beach vitex: beachvitex.org