NYCkayaker [tb-cyberharbor]: Pralls island deforestation and more

[rob buchanan]

The news story I saw yesterday said one silver maple on staten island had
been found to be infested. Is there new information today? There was‹is?--a
much larger infestation across the arthur kill in carteret, nj that began a
couple of years ago. I don¹t know what it all means. I do agree a vigorous
response is called for. But the questions that richard lynch raises in his
letter are good ones, and deserve an answer. First, is APHIS following its
own guidelines in combatting this outbreak? Second, are there less drastic
measures that, combined with increased monitoring, might prove equally
effective? Third, where is the public process here‹would it not be possible
for APHIS and City Parks to reach out to stakeholder groups on this, with
the understanding that it has to happen on a very accelerated timetable? I
don¹t know what the answers are but having been on pralls and walked in
those birch groves i¹m not happy about the idea of them disappearing without
at least a modicum of public discussion. I¹m also really disappointed not to
hear more on this from all of our vaunted watchdog groups.  Are all of you
really satisfied the government has done their homework here?

Rob



On 3/29/07 10:31 AM, "Dave Lutz" <dave.lutz at treebranch.com> wrote:

> If you listened to this morning's news, the beetle infestation is not just on
> Prall's Island but on Staten Island as well. As the beetles tend to not move
> far from where they are, but have been known to hitchhike on automobiles, the
> Staten Island infestation, the largest to date in New York, may explain the
> Prall's Island infestation. I'm not one to try to second guess the Park's
> Commissioner on this one. In Chicago and Toronto, where beetle infestations
> were aggressively attacked, the beetles are gone. New York's record has been
> less successful.
>  
> The commissioner has made a plea for Federal money to clean up this problem
> once and for all. I hope he is successful.
>  
> -dave
>  
>  
>>  

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