SC - Re: wied things in your dairy case

[UlfR]

This is a little old, but I'm a little behind on my mail.
I forwarded Balthazar's mail to my mother, who has been a Master Gardener
for at least 15 years, and went from that point to get a BS in Plant
Protection (a specialized Ag degree) and her MS in Extension Education. She
worked for several years as an Extension Agent in Central Oregon working
with farmers growing wheat (etc), and is currently working in the Ag
department at Oregon State University.  This is her take on it (written
while very tired, please excuse her partial sentences) when I asked her if
she had heard anything about the "white list":

"Sort of.  Don't know about white list.  Corvallis has been having dialog
about putting ivy on the A weed list.  every  county in oregon has a
noxious weed list.  Then at the state level they have noxious weed
lists.  I thought that they already had a noxious weed list at the federal
level.

What it is is a list of weeds that are invasive.  That means the plants
grow very fast and rigourous and crowd out the native plants.  Most
invasive plants are not good food for wildlife so when the invasive plants
take over the deer and birds don't have as much to eat.

So they have to find a way to kill the plants.  Which usually means
spraying them with weed killer.  But most invasive plants do not die well
after being sprayed with weed killer. Or they are in sensitive places that
weed killer can't be used.  So it is better to not let the weeds get loose
and grow in the wild.

So if they put a plant on the noxious weed list then the government enity
can legally make a person eradicate the weed.... in theory anyway.

They don't put high income producing plants or crops on the noxious weed
list."

Which doesn't preclude the existence of "The White List". However, I really
don't think we have to worry about them NOT placing barley or hops on the
list.  Too much money is involve in the industries that use those two crops.
Imagine if Coors or Bud or Miller (or other common cheap beers) had to tell
their consumers they had to raise the price of beer because they now have to
import one of the key ingredients (they do use hops for beers like that
don't they?). I think if they did that, you'd have Millions of people to
wear those t-shirts and wield the shovels. Hell, the government might end up
with a full-scale revolt. Instead of the Boston Tea Party we'd have full
scale rebellion and hops being grown in secrecy, smuggled into breweries
under disguise as empty kegs being returned?  Nah, I think the government
benefits by having the mindless masses sit in front of their TVs with their
6-packs.

Seriously. I don't know why they'd need an approved list when they already
have multiple "unapproved" lists.

- -Cassea

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
[mailto:owner-sca-cooks at ansteorra.org]On Behalf Of Chris Stanifer
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 9:16 PM
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: SC - OOP - "White List" question


Gentles,

I know this may be a bit out of period, but I just
heard about this, and had to pop the question out onto
the list (knowing that there are at least a few out
there who are into gardening and heirloom plants...)

Has anyone heard anything about the National Invasive
Species Council's "White List"?  From what I can
gather, it is a proposal (at this stage) to form a
list of approved, non-invasive species of plants,
which would prohibit the cultivation, propogation and
importation of any other plant NOT on the list.  The
papers I have read on it have been pretty one-sided
(maybe justifiable), and I have not yet been able to
access the actual, official government documents.  So,
if there is anyone out there with more information,
and you would like to discuss this, please feel free
to drop me a line off-list.

My greatest fear is that HOPS and BARLEY will somehow
NOT make it onto the list, and then we will ALL be in
a very large world of hurt.... :)

Balthazar of Blackmoor
(who is actually more concerned about this situation
than he lets on...)

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