MANAGEMENT OF INVASIVE PLANTS IN THE WESTERN USA
  • Defining the Problem
    • What is a Weed? >
      • Federal Definitions of Noxious Weeds
    • Costs of invasive plants
    • Human Factor
    • Challenges of Invasive Plants
    • Wildfires in the Western USA >
      • Forest Fires: Structure
      • Bark Beetles & Forest Ecosystems
      • Rangeland Fires
    • Climate Change Impacts on Plants >
      • Climate Change: CO2, NO, UV, Ozone Impacts on Plants
      • Climate Change Impacts on Crops
      • Climate Change Impacts on C4 Plants
      • Climate Change Impacts on Rangeland
    • What are we doing?
  • Focus of this Project
    • Why Western States? >
      • Audience for these reports
    • History: Are we doomed to repeat it? >
      • Dust Bowl Re-visited >
        • China: Past & Present
        • UN Biodiversity Report
    • Policy vs. Practice
    • Ecosystems & Economics >
      • Reductionist Approach to science
      • Ecology & Feminism
      • Systems View of Life
      • Ecosystems Health
      • Economic Growth
      • Impact of the Petrochemical Industry
      • Interrelation of Economics & Ecology
    • Federal Agencies >
      • Federal Agencies and Invasive Species
      • History of Coordination with States
      • Challenges of Coordination between Federal Agencies
      • Collaboration or Confusion
    • Organizations to assist landowners
    • Federal Legislation on Invasive Species >
      • 1930s Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • Federal Seed Act 1939
      • 1940s-1960s Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • 1970s Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • 1980s Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • 1990s Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • 2000-2010 Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • 2011-2022 Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • Federal Bills on Invasive Species not passed
      • Executive Orders on Invasive Species
      • Federal Excise Taxes
    • State Laws and Lists of Noxious Weeds
    • My Inspirations
  • Why we need plants
    • Native Plants
    • Plant Resources
  • Invasive Success Hypotheses
    • Unified Framework
    • Role of Diversity >
      • How Ecosystems Maintain Diversity
      • Fluctuation Dependent Mechanisms
      • Competition-based coexistence mechanisms
      • Niche Differences
      • Species Richness
    • Enemy Release Hypothesis
    • Constitutive Defense Mechanisms
    • Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability
    • Role of Microbes
    • Indirect Defense Mechanisms
    • Novel weapons hypothesis
    • Evolutionary Shifts
    • Resource Allocation
    • Evolutionary Dynamics >
      • Pre-introduction evolutionary history
      • Sampling Effect
      • Founder Effect
      • Admixture, hybridization and polyploidization
      • Rapid Evolution
      • Epigenetics
      • Second Genomes
    • Role of Hybridization
    • Role of Native Plant Neighbors
    • Species Performance
    • Role of Herbivory
    • Evolutionary Reduced Competitive Ability
    • Summary Thoughts on Research
  • Historical Record
    • Regional Conferences
    • Timeline
  • Innovative Solutions
    • Agricultural Best Practices >
      • Ecologically based Successional Management
      • Perennial Crops, Intercropping, beneficial insects
      • Soil Solarization
      • Natural Farming
      • Permaculture
      • Organic Farming
      • Embedding Natural Habitats
      • Conservation Tillage
      • Crop Rotation
      • Water Use Practices
      • Tree Planting: Pros & Cons
    • Grazing Solutions >
      • Sheep and Goat Grazing
      • Cattle & Sheep Grazing
      • Cattle and Bison Grazing
      • Grazing and Revegetation
    • Rangeland Restoration >
      • Federal Goals for Rangelands
      • Novel Ecosystems
      • Prairie Restoration >
        • Prairie Restoration Workshop
        • Weed Prevention Areas
        • California grassland restoration
        • Selah: Bamberger Ranch Preserve
      • Sagebrush Steppe Restoration >
        • Low Nitrogen in Sagebrush Steppe
      • Revegetation with Native Plants
      • Dogs as detectors of noxious weeds
    • Nudges
  • Biological Control
    • Insects as Biocontrol >
      • Impacts of Biocontrol Agents on Non-Target Species
      • Indirect Impact of Biocontrol on Native Species
    • Challenges of Using Biocontrols >
      • DNA studies on Biocontrol Insects
      • Biocontrol takes time
    • Prioritization process for Biocontrol Programs
    • Evolutionary changes impact Biocontrol
    • Vertebrates as Biocontrol Agents
  • Herbicides: History and Impacts
    • Effectiveness of Herbicides in Agricultural Lands
    • Effectiveness of Herbicides in Rangelands
    • History of Use of Herbicides and Pesticides Prior to and During WWII
    • Herbicide use during and post-World War II >
      • 2,4-D Herbicide Use
      • 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, post-World War II
    • Modern use of Herbicides >
      • Atrazine Herbicide
      • Dicamba Herbicide
      • Glyphosate Herbicide
      • Paraquat Dichloride
      • Picolinic acid family of herbicides >
        • Picloram (Tordon 22K) Herbicide
        • Triclopyr Herbicide
    • Herbicide Resistance in Invasive Plants >
      • Herbicide Resistant Crops
      • Controlling herbicide-resistant weeds in herbicide-resistant crops
      • Best Management Practices
    • Myth of the Silver Bullet
    • Myth of Eradication
    • Merging of Agrochemical Companies
    • Impacts of Pesticides on Environment and Human Health >
      • Pesticide Drift
      • Impacts of Pesticides on Biological Diversity
      • Impacts of Herbicides on Native Plants
      • Pesticide Impacts on Insects >
        • Butterflies: The Impacts of Herbicides
        • Monarch Butterflies: Impacts of Herbicides
      • Impacts of Pesticides on Wildlife >
        • Reptiles & Amphibians: Pesticide Impacts
      • Pesticide Residue in Foods
    • Funding for Research on Pesticides
    • Commentary on Herbicide Use
  • Interviews
    • Interviews Biocontrol >
      • Biocontrol Wyoming
      • Montana Biocontrol Interview Maggio
      • Montana Biocontrol Interview Breitenfeldt
    • California Interviews >
      • Robert Price
      • Doug Johnson
    • Colorado Interviews >
      • George Beck Interview
      • Scott Nissen Interview
    • Idaho Interviews >
      • Purple Sage Organic Farms in Idaho
    • Montana Interviews >
      • Jasmine Reimer Interview Montana
      • Organic Farms Montana Interviews
    • Texas Interviews
    • Washington Interviews >
      • Ray Willard
    • Wyoming Interviews >
      • Slade Franklin Interview
      • John Samson Interview
    • Wyoming Weed and Pest Districts >
      • Josh Shorb Interview
      • Slade Franklin Interview 2
      • Lars Baker Interview
      • Steve Brill Interview
      • George Hittle Interview
      • Peter Illoway Interview
      • Robert Jenn Interview
      • Sharon Johnson Interview
      • Larry Justesen Interview
      • Gale Lamb Interview
      • Stephen McNamee Interview
      • Allen Mooney Interview
      • Rob Orchard Interview
      • Robert Parsons Interview
      • Dick Sackett Interview
      • Comments by Delena
    • NRCS Interviews: Wyoming
  • Western Weed Control Conference 1940s Minutes
    • 1942 Conference
    • 1945 Conference
    • 1946 Conference
  • Who am I?
    • My Work
    • My Adventures
    • Contact Page
  • Road Logs
    • Colorado Road Logs
    • Idaho Road Logs
    • Montana Road Logs
    • New Mexico Road Logs
    • Texas Road Logs
    • Wyoming Road Logs
  • Bibliography

Permaculture

Photo: Farm in northeastern China, Inner Mongolia. © 2012 Delena Norris-Tull

Permaculture
 
Bill Mollison, an Australian biologist, and David Holmgren, an Australian environmental designer, developed the sustainable farming techniques called Permaculture. They adopted their strategies based on the influence of various farming experts, including Fukuoka and Haikai Tane. Permaculture differs from Fukuoka’s approach, as it involves a more planned design, rather than evolving out of nature. Permaculture is a “sustainable agricultural system based on a multi-crop of perennial trees, shrubs, herbs (vegetables and weeds), fungi, and root systems.” Focused on enabling communities to develop self-subsistence, permaculture has evolved to include training in economics and legal strategies to assist households and communities to become financially self-sustaining.
 
The first Permaculture Institute was developed to “teach the practical design of sustainable soil, water, plant, and legal and economic systems.” Holmgren, author of several books on Permaculture, argues that invasive plants are an important part of natural systems, and thus should not be eliminated from agricultural systems.
 
In a report presented within a series of seminars on “Contentious Perspectives on Weeds” at the 45th Annual General Meeting of the Weed Society of Victoria, Holmgren, 2011, states that, “Land design and management informed by permaculture principles tends to regard naturalized species of plants as assets that should be managed to stabilize water and soil, build biomass, fix nutrients, ameliorate microclimate and provide habitat, fodder, fuel and food in the early stages of system development. While naturalized species may be given a lower value in permaculture design than species regarded as indigenous to the site and region, the typical designation of naturalized species as 'invasive species' or 'environmental weeds' is typically rejected as anti-ecological thinking.”
 
Holmgren, 2011, argues against the designation of non-native species as weeds or invasives. He states, “I prefer the term ‘naturalized species’ to describe all plants that have developed self reproducing populations outside of their supposed natural range where they are ‘indigenous’. The term ‘naturalized’ has long been in use by botanists, and recognizes species that have achieved the first level of ecological functionality in establishing a self-maintaining population.”
 
Permaculture values the “use of pioneer [naturalized] species to quickly stabilize soil and water resources, build organic matter, fix nutrients, ameliorate microclimate and quickly provide habitat and resources while more delicate, longer lived climax species become established.”
 
Holmgren, 2011, describes two of the five primary influences on the development of the Permaculture model: indigenous hunter-gatherer culture and economic botany research. “For example, the Arran’da people of the central desert [of Australia] have a word that means ‘of the land’. All things ‘of the land’ have moral status and can be appropriately used but not abused.”
 
Pointing to the work of economic botanists, Holmgren draws attention to the many plant species, both native and naturalized, that have economic value but that have often been overlooked within agriculture. One has only to examine the origins of the many plants naturalized within the USA to recognize that for many, although not all, their introductions here were due to their economic values elsewhere.
 
Holmgren, 2011, points out that, “Climate change has been widely predicted to lead to mass movement of species. Evidence of these adaptive behaviour movements is already accumulating, but native species that have been successful in moving in response to human induced environmental change are commonly labelled as undesirable invasives by some biologists and land managers… Within the invasion biology field [naturalization] is typically discussed as an ecological disaster that is best prevented by ensuring no seed sources of potential invasive species, leaving the field open to indigenous species. This perspective ignores the evidence that many exotic species have greater potential to better stabilize soil and water resources than locally indigenous species. Novel ecosystems [including both native and naturalized species] are the laboratories where we can study how native and migrant species might combine in this future of disruptive climate change.”
 
Holmgren, 2011, states that, “The low level of interest in economic botany of trees and long-lived perennials in the 20th century can be attributed to abundant cheap oil that undercuts the value of renewable resources. I see permaculture as prefiguring a revival of interest in both native and migrant species as valuable resources in the energy descent future.”
 
Addressing rising energy costs, which are increasing the costs of chemical treatments used in agriculture, Holmgren, 2011, says, “Higher energy costs are already flowing through to food and all other resources, both renewable and non-renewable. Resulting economic contraction will see less money for weed control, while the high embodied energy cost of herbicides will reduce options for weed control.”
 
Holmgren, 2011, goes on to say, “In highlighting the positive aspects of naturalized and migrant plants to balance what I believe is an anti-ecological and damaging orthodoxy, I don’t want to give the impression that I believe caution is not required in the introduction of new species. In my teaching of permaculture I have always emphasized the distinction between animals (especially vertebrates including fish) and plants when considering the potentially problematic introduction of these organisms to new environments: clearly top predators are the most problematic of all introductions. That being said, prohibitions on culture of (for example) Redfin perch in central Victoria is meaningless when this species has been naturalized in all streams and most dams for at least a century.”
 
Holmgren, 2011, concludes with, “The nativist ideology that has largely captured public policy, resource allocation and instigated increasing regulation, as well as influenced the personal decisions of farmers and land managers, makes the following assumptions that I believe are all ill founded:
1. All species naturalizations at all scales represent ecological degradation, and should be avoided.
2. Ecosystem services provided by naturalized species are insignificant or trivial.
3. New resource opportunities from naturalized species are insignificant or trivial.
4. Control and/or extermination of already naturalized species is a high priority in land management.
5. Collateral damage to soil and water resources, and to other life forms from use of toxins and machinery is minor.
6. That the war against weeds can be won.”
 
Delena’s commentary: The inspiration that caused me to tackle this examination of invasive plant species management was based on a fundamental question I had developed over the years: Can the war on weeds be won? Holmgren provides a compelling argument that says, No, that war is already lost.
 
I also refer you to Tao Orion’s book, Beyond the war on invasive species: A permaculture approach to ecosystem restoration. Orion has a degree in Environmental Studies with a focus on agroecology and sustainable agriculture. She teaches permaculture design at Oregon State University. In the book’s introduction, Orion, 2015, states, “Permaculture taught me that every organism is intrinsically connected to the ecosystem of which it Is a part and that addressing the ecological conditions that promote a species’ proliferation, whether you wish to discourage or encourage its survival, will enhance the ecosystem overall.”
 
Orion’s early work in habitat restoration in Oregon helped shape her concerns about treating plants as invasive. When she started working in wetlands habitat restoration in Lane County Oregon, she was appalled to learn that the first step in restoration was to use three years of annual broadcast spraying with RoundUp, followed up with spot treatment with herbicides. Based on her experience working at an organic farm, she succeeded in convincing her supervisors to let here try spot burning, rather than spot spraying with herbicides. This seemed successful at first, but then she grew concerned with the amphibians that she inadvertently burned. Then she started noticing that the invasive species she was trying to eradicate actually were fulfilling a useful role in the wetlands, providing pollen for honeybees and native pollinators, and that frogs were able to thrive despite living in an “invaded” environment. Another step planned by the County for restoring the wetlands was to remove tens of thousands of dump truck loads of soil, to reach the water table. Orion was troubled by the additional damage that these actions had on the site, such as the soil compaction caused by months of use of bulldozers and excavators and trucks for soil removal. Ultimately, replanting the site with native seeds was not successful in keeping the invasive plants at bay.
 
Out of this experience, Orion began to apply knowledge from the field of permaculture to the field of restoration ecology. She said, “Because permaculture design is focused on the relationships among elements rather than on considering an element in isolation, it offers a unique way to understand how rampancy of a particular species might be indicative of larger processes at work… Permaculture design offers a unique framework to understand invasive species and engage in a more holistic, and more successful, restoration planning process… The process of permaculture design is ethically based, meaning that every action and decision should evaluate how best to care for the earth, care for people, and reinvest surplus into regenerative systems.” Orion’s book attempts to provide this framework to the reader. In it, the author addresses a variety of problems related to invasive species, such as dissecting the causes of the spread of tamarisk trees.

References:
  • Holmgren, D. (2011). Weeds or wild nature: A permaculture perspective. Plant Protection Quarterly, 26(3):92-97.
  • Orion, T. (2015). Beyond the war on invasive species: A permaculture approach to ecosystem restoration. London: Chelsea Green Publishing.

​Links to additional Agricultural Best Practices:
  • Ecologically based Successional Management
  • Perennial Crops, Intercropping, beneficial insects
  • Soil Solarization
  • Natural Farming​
  • Organic Farming
  • Embedding Natural Habitats
  • Conservation Tillage
  • Crop Rotation
  • Water Use Practices
  • Tree Planting: Pros & Cons

Links to additional Innovative Solutions:
grazing solutions
Rangeland restoration
Nudges
Copyright: Dr. Delena Norris-Tull, July 2020. Management of Invasive Plants in the Western USA.

These webpages are always under construction. I welcome corrections and additions to any page.
​Send me an email, and I can send you the original Word format version of any page you wish to correct.
contact Dr. Norris-Tull
Bibliography
who am i?
My work
my inspirations
my adventures
  • Defining the Problem
    • What is a Weed? >
      • Federal Definitions of Noxious Weeds
    • Costs of invasive plants
    • Human Factor
    • Challenges of Invasive Plants
    • Wildfires in the Western USA >
      • Forest Fires: Structure
      • Bark Beetles & Forest Ecosystems
      • Rangeland Fires
    • Climate Change Impacts on Plants >
      • Climate Change: CO2, NO, UV, Ozone Impacts on Plants
      • Climate Change Impacts on Crops
      • Climate Change Impacts on C4 Plants
      • Climate Change Impacts on Rangeland
    • What are we doing?
  • Focus of this Project
    • Why Western States? >
      • Audience for these reports
    • History: Are we doomed to repeat it? >
      • Dust Bowl Re-visited >
        • China: Past & Present
        • UN Biodiversity Report
    • Policy vs. Practice
    • Ecosystems & Economics >
      • Reductionist Approach to science
      • Ecology & Feminism
      • Systems View of Life
      • Ecosystems Health
      • Economic Growth
      • Impact of the Petrochemical Industry
      • Interrelation of Economics & Ecology
    • Federal Agencies >
      • Federal Agencies and Invasive Species
      • History of Coordination with States
      • Challenges of Coordination between Federal Agencies
      • Collaboration or Confusion
    • Organizations to assist landowners
    • Federal Legislation on Invasive Species >
      • 1930s Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • Federal Seed Act 1939
      • 1940s-1960s Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • 1970s Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • 1980s Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • 1990s Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • 2000-2010 Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • 2011-2022 Federal Laws on Invasive Species
      • Federal Bills on Invasive Species not passed
      • Executive Orders on Invasive Species
      • Federal Excise Taxes
    • State Laws and Lists of Noxious Weeds
    • My Inspirations
  • Why we need plants
    • Native Plants
    • Plant Resources
  • Invasive Success Hypotheses
    • Unified Framework
    • Role of Diversity >
      • How Ecosystems Maintain Diversity
      • Fluctuation Dependent Mechanisms
      • Competition-based coexistence mechanisms
      • Niche Differences
      • Species Richness
    • Enemy Release Hypothesis
    • Constitutive Defense Mechanisms
    • Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability
    • Role of Microbes
    • Indirect Defense Mechanisms
    • Novel weapons hypothesis
    • Evolutionary Shifts
    • Resource Allocation
    • Evolutionary Dynamics >
      • Pre-introduction evolutionary history
      • Sampling Effect
      • Founder Effect
      • Admixture, hybridization and polyploidization
      • Rapid Evolution
      • Epigenetics
      • Second Genomes
    • Role of Hybridization
    • Role of Native Plant Neighbors
    • Species Performance
    • Role of Herbivory
    • Evolutionary Reduced Competitive Ability
    • Summary Thoughts on Research
  • Historical Record
    • Regional Conferences
    • Timeline
  • Innovative Solutions
    • Agricultural Best Practices >
      • Ecologically based Successional Management
      • Perennial Crops, Intercropping, beneficial insects
      • Soil Solarization
      • Natural Farming
      • Permaculture
      • Organic Farming
      • Embedding Natural Habitats
      • Conservation Tillage
      • Crop Rotation
      • Water Use Practices
      • Tree Planting: Pros & Cons
    • Grazing Solutions >
      • Sheep and Goat Grazing
      • Cattle & Sheep Grazing
      • Cattle and Bison Grazing
      • Grazing and Revegetation
    • Rangeland Restoration >
      • Federal Goals for Rangelands
      • Novel Ecosystems
      • Prairie Restoration >
        • Prairie Restoration Workshop
        • Weed Prevention Areas
        • California grassland restoration
        • Selah: Bamberger Ranch Preserve
      • Sagebrush Steppe Restoration >
        • Low Nitrogen in Sagebrush Steppe
      • Revegetation with Native Plants
      • Dogs as detectors of noxious weeds
    • Nudges
  • Biological Control
    • Insects as Biocontrol >
      • Impacts of Biocontrol Agents on Non-Target Species
      • Indirect Impact of Biocontrol on Native Species
    • Challenges of Using Biocontrols >
      • DNA studies on Biocontrol Insects
      • Biocontrol takes time
    • Prioritization process for Biocontrol Programs
    • Evolutionary changes impact Biocontrol
    • Vertebrates as Biocontrol Agents
  • Herbicides: History and Impacts
    • Effectiveness of Herbicides in Agricultural Lands
    • Effectiveness of Herbicides in Rangelands
    • History of Use of Herbicides and Pesticides Prior to and During WWII
    • Herbicide use during and post-World War II >
      • 2,4-D Herbicide Use
      • 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, post-World War II
    • Modern use of Herbicides >
      • Atrazine Herbicide
      • Dicamba Herbicide
      • Glyphosate Herbicide
      • Paraquat Dichloride
      • Picolinic acid family of herbicides >
        • Picloram (Tordon 22K) Herbicide
        • Triclopyr Herbicide
    • Herbicide Resistance in Invasive Plants >
      • Herbicide Resistant Crops
      • Controlling herbicide-resistant weeds in herbicide-resistant crops
      • Best Management Practices
    • Myth of the Silver Bullet
    • Myth of Eradication
    • Merging of Agrochemical Companies
    • Impacts of Pesticides on Environment and Human Health >
      • Pesticide Drift
      • Impacts of Pesticides on Biological Diversity
      • Impacts of Herbicides on Native Plants
      • Pesticide Impacts on Insects >
        • Butterflies: The Impacts of Herbicides
        • Monarch Butterflies: Impacts of Herbicides
      • Impacts of Pesticides on Wildlife >
        • Reptiles & Amphibians: Pesticide Impacts
      • Pesticide Residue in Foods
    • Funding for Research on Pesticides
    • Commentary on Herbicide Use
  • Interviews
    • Interviews Biocontrol >
      • Biocontrol Wyoming
      • Montana Biocontrol Interview Maggio
      • Montana Biocontrol Interview Breitenfeldt
    • California Interviews >
      • Robert Price
      • Doug Johnson
    • Colorado Interviews >
      • George Beck Interview
      • Scott Nissen Interview
    • Idaho Interviews >
      • Purple Sage Organic Farms in Idaho
    • Montana Interviews >
      • Jasmine Reimer Interview Montana
      • Organic Farms Montana Interviews
    • Texas Interviews
    • Washington Interviews >
      • Ray Willard
    • Wyoming Interviews >
      • Slade Franklin Interview
      • John Samson Interview
    • Wyoming Weed and Pest Districts >
      • Josh Shorb Interview
      • Slade Franklin Interview 2
      • Lars Baker Interview
      • Steve Brill Interview
      • George Hittle Interview
      • Peter Illoway Interview
      • Robert Jenn Interview
      • Sharon Johnson Interview
      • Larry Justesen Interview
      • Gale Lamb Interview
      • Stephen McNamee Interview
      • Allen Mooney Interview
      • Rob Orchard Interview
      • Robert Parsons Interview
      • Dick Sackett Interview
      • Comments by Delena
    • NRCS Interviews: Wyoming
  • Western Weed Control Conference 1940s Minutes
    • 1942 Conference
    • 1945 Conference
    • 1946 Conference
  • Who am I?
    • My Work
    • My Adventures
    • Contact Page
  • Road Logs
    • Colorado Road Logs
    • Idaho Road Logs
    • Montana Road Logs
    • New Mexico Road Logs
    • Texas Road Logs
    • Wyoming Road Logs
  • Bibliography