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Showing posts with label Pests/Invasive Species. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pests/Invasive Species. Show all posts
An invasive species in the Everglades since the late 1980's but not recognized as a reproducing population until year 2000.
4,000 pounds of dead snakes were captured and killed in the recent python hunt. Can you even imagine that they can devour an alligator! Probably some exotic snake collectors released them into our Everglades.
"Never doubt the importance of this program: Pythons are devouring
virtually everything that moves in the Everglades, including native
Florida alligators. This is no exaggeration. Marsh rabbits, raccoons,
opossums, bobcats, deer, great blue herons, wood storks all have
disappeared -- really and truly disappeared, leaving behind an eerie and
desolate ecosystem."
It's just about to happen...
An event called Invasives & Exotics - it's the latest incarnation of The Lake Worth City Tree Board's Right Tree, Right Place lecture series.
It takes place this evening at the Lake Worth Library at 15 N M St.
Doors open at 6 p.m, Light refreshments will be served.
At 6:30 - Laurie Albrecht, UF/IFAS Cooperative Extension Agent at Mounts Botanical Garden
At 7:00 - Christen Mason, Chair of the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council
At 7:30 - Susan Lerner, President of the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society
I wanted to know about the Tree Board Talk, even if you have other obligations
Be sure not to miss this "edutaining" - simultaneously educational & entertaining event - & tell your friends & family.
Does anyone like bugs (other than Greg Rice that is)?
Well this is the one that is causing our citrus crop to drop: the
Asian Citrus Psyllid
“The United States' all orange forecast for the 2015-2016 season is 5.77 million tons, down 10 percent from the 2014-2015 final utilization,” NASS noted on Friday. “The Florida all orange forecast, at 80 million boxes (3.60 million tons), is down 17 percent from last season’s final utilization. Early, midseason, and Navel varieties in Florida are forecast at 40 million boxes (1.80 million tons), down 16 percent from last season’s final utilization. The Florida Valencia orange forecast, at 40 million boxes (1.80 million tons), is down 19 percent from last season’s final utilization.”
The beginning of the felling atrocity and tragedy--an abomination
Australian pines provide nesting habitat for bald eagles, anhingas,
great horned owls, red shouldered hawks, cormorants, great blue herons,
yellow crowned night herons and, occasionally, ospreys; perching/
roosting habitat for pelicans, bald eagles, ospreys and many species of
songbirds; and year-round food for a variety of native and migratory
birds.
They also do a first class job of providing shade while still
allowing significant light as well as the beautiful colors of the sky to
beam through. Their slender trunks allow the sea breezes to flow along
the ground unhindered. The soft sound of the wind singing through their
limbs is unmatched by any other tree. Australian pines do not require
watering, fertilizing or maintenance, other than occasional "topping."
The needles” they drop make a perfect matting around picnic tables and a
treasure house full of surprises that captivate inquisitive children.
Our tree had Muscovies that built nests in the cavity over the years. One morning I watched 8 little ducklings hop down from the tree and cross Lake Osborne with its mother. I was there to stop the traffic so that they could safely cross. All the birds nested there or dropped by like the occasional pelican and we watched an Osprey build a nest. The birds kept flying back to "their" tree that day. It was a wonderful tree. RIP.
This never should have happened by a condo board that caved in to a person who was wrapped up in herself giving every excuse in the book that it was going to "save" the building and "save" her head and her elderly mother's head. The city never should have changed the rules this one time (we all know some condo boards and property owners can be obnoxious) using the excuse that this was an invasive species. The building was built in 1966. How did we all survive this tree that has been growing forever?
Already pruned back only four years ago for $2,500, arborist Dave McGrew said at the time, "The tree is not dangerous." That statement fell on deaf ears to my new condo commando board that was installed on January 12 that has been trying since early in the year to get a permit from the city.
June 1, the beginning of hurricane season, the new president of our condo association was right on it--there has been a pine tree living on our property for at least 75 years and survived every hurricane imaginable. She is scared it might come down and fall on her condo unit. Without a vote of the membership as it is a major change to our common elements and required a vote of every owner, the Board took it upon themselves, with all sorts of justifications like "it might blow down," and voted to remove it.
Along with its removal by Kelley Tree Services that started the felling at 7:40am this morning (against Ordinance), were Muscovy eggs in the tree cavity that were smashed by workers, nesting birds as well as an Osprey. Who cares? This new condo president called me "evil" for trying to save this tree. Tell it to God. Muscovies are not protected either as they are not indigenous to Florida and considered an invasive species. Hell, most of the people who live here are not indigenous either. The president of this association certainly is not. But the bigger problem is condo boards in general and people running associations like they are their own serfdom, and making decisions that are emotional, not transparent and against the Declaration of Condominium. Felling this aged old tree, invasive species or not, should have been a membership vote; the tree wasn't hurting anyone.
When I asked Kelley Tree Service about it, they said the president told them to cut it down. He complained that it took six months to finally get the permit from the city. I asked to see the permit and he didn't have it. One of his workers told me to "piss off." This is MY property...I live here...I am one of the owners and one of the owners of this tree. Instead, the foreman had his secretary call the PBSO and two deputy vehicles showed up with one actually knocking on my door.
What happened here was the city capitulated to the "all invasive species need to be cut down" rhetoric (bull shit) and waived a requirement for this association due to some loophole that does not protect trees such as this. Instead of replacing the tree with 12 (twelve) trees due to its size that can not be palm trees, they are allowing it to be replaced with 3 (three) Foxtail palms. What a disgrace. After talking to William Waters, Director of Sustainability, he only learned about the Pine tree this morning. He is going to sit down with the city attorney to discuss multiple family residences and the loopholes on allowing permits of this type. Even if this can be stopped in the future, it doesn't change the fact that my tree, God's tree, was cut to a stump with the owners having no say so, whatsoever, by an aggressive condo board that went along with a self-serving president.
We have rules and protections in place for reasons. And the truth of the matter is, you can justify just about anything. There never should be legal loopholes to get around the law. At my association, the appointed, not elected, president has told me that "no one cares." In other words, "shut the hell up, we will do what we want." It reminds me of our city commission. They have the power to affect your lives in very meaningful and costly ways. And whether they give you 2 or 3 minutes to present your case, it really doesn't matter. The justification for what they do is twisted to convince people they are right even when they are not.
I have always said that the guy who eventually wins out is the one who screams the loudest. Follow the rules and you get a kick in the head.
What it looks like now--they are still cutting away!
It's a constant struggle to keep a lawn looking good. Every day you are fighting pests along with weeds that are determined to take it over and ruin it all.
Is your St. Augustine grass starting to look like this? If so, you might have the Mosaic Sugarcane Virus. At the moment, there is no treatment for this virus and the University of Florida is working on a cure. This virus appeared in the 1960's on sugarcane and scientists say this is the first time they have seen it transfer to grass. Read more about it
We have been fighting a flowering weed out here on Lake Osborne whose seeds are carried by the wind from John Prince Park that is directly across the road. It grows out like an octopus' tentacles and smothers and kills the grass. The County hasn't sprayed in years and consequently we are struggling to stay on top of it. So far, no mosaic sugarcane virus.
I don't like snakes nor am I a fan of anything creepy or crawly but Pythons?
There has been a lot of talk about Burmese Pythons. Just yesterday, the Sun Sentinel reported that an adult deer, weighting 76 pounds, was found intact inside a huge Burmese Python. Sounds incredible, doesn't it? This snake is a menace to wildlife in The Everglades. It can catch its prey in the light or at night eating the equivalent of its body weight in one year.
The Burmese Python is one of the giant snake species of the world and has almost four hundred sets of ribs. Because its spine is so flexible, it can twist along the ground allowing it to move without legs.
We have all sorts of invasive species in Florida from certain invertebrate, plants, trees and aquatic animals--from the Florida holly to the blue tilapias that challenge our ecosystem in the Everglades. The Burmese Python is, by far, the most dangerous. No one knows how they arrived here but it has been reported that there are thousands, perhaps 100,000 living in the water or the trees of Everglades National Park consisting of 1.5 million acres.
As most of us have an innate fear of any type of snake, Burmese Pythons are usually 8 to 13 feet long but it has been reported they can be 20 feet weighing up to 200 pounds. According to the Washington Post, since 2000, 1,496 Burmese pythons have been "removed" -- i.e, destroyed or captured for field research -- in and around Everglades National Park, including 367 last year and 162 through May 9 of 2010.
