There is hope in the fight against invasive species. One of the things we learned about at the DU weekend was a "new" method of fighting them. They have been working on it for several years and believe they will have it available in another 5-10 years.
It involves a kind of "GMO" work where they can go into a plants cells and shut off the genes that enables it to reproduce. This will be drastically more efficient, less costly, and does no damage to the environment, like herbicides do.
They are also very hopeful that they can come up with a way to do this with other invasive species, like carp, starlings, English sparrows, zebra mussels and host of others that are messing up our wild areas.
The big push right now for this is with the control, and eradication, of phragmites, an invasive plant that is wiping out the marshes in North America.
They are hoping that a "beetle", similar to what is used to control purple loosestrife, will be available withing 1 to two years. That will hold things where they are, and maybe reduce the the area that phragmites are ruining, until the "GMO" fix is perfected.
It involves a kind of "GMO" work where they can go into a plants cells and shut off the genes that enables it to reproduce. This will be drastically more efficient, less costly, and does no damage to the environment, like herbicides do.
They are also very hopeful that they can come up with a way to do this with other invasive species, like carp, starlings, English sparrows, zebra mussels and host of others that are messing up our wild areas.
The big push right now for this is with the control, and eradication, of phragmites, an invasive plant that is wiping out the marshes in North America.
They are hoping that a "beetle", similar to what is used to control purple loosestrife, will be available withing 1 to two years. That will hold things where they are, and maybe reduce the the area that phragmites are ruining, until the "GMO" fix is perfected.