Condon’s Corner
With native trees dying, it’s time to embrace “invasive” plants
© Marlene A. Condon 2026 All Rights Reserved
[Published May 14,
2026, by The Daily Progress, the daily newspaper
of Charlottesville, Virginia]
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Oaks have been dying for many years now, and more species are following suit, such as White Pine (Pinus strobus) and Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). If you expect to feed and care for our wildlife, grow plants erroneously called “invasive” and fight new restrictions placed upon doing so. |
The Daily Progress newspaper of April 16, 2026 included this article
headline: “Outpacing evolution: Scientists using DNA to battle climate change”.
Apparently, scientists have given up on getting people to change their ways to
avoid climate problems brought about by our extensive employment of fossil
fuels.
Instead, they’ve decided it
would be “easier” (don’t believe it) to completely alter the genetic blueprint
for the estimated one million species facing extinction so these
creatures can tolerate climate extremes, disease, and drought. In other words,
man has finally begun to think of himself as God, the Almighty. (The hubris!)
You can see the acceptance of
our situation by other news stories, too, such as an AOL story that told us, “As
the planet warms, scientists burn homes to figure out how to best protect them
in wildfires.” Even more concernedly, some scientists are putting a positive
spin on what’s happening: “Five ecosystems transformed by climate change give
birth to new, sometimes even richer worlds.” [From an ad for a PBS program]
And then, AOL recently published,
“Climate doom and gloom? Try laughing instead. Activists embrace joy in the
fight to save Earth”. If only it were a laughing matter, but here in Virginia,
it isn’t.
On April 9 of this year,
abc7News printed an article about Virginia’s recently elected governor, Abigail
Spanberger, signing bills to create “4 laws to combat invasive plant
species in Virginia”.
Gov. Spanberger signs 4 laws to combat invasive plant species
in Virginia
The article states that the bills will “protect the state's land, water, and wildlife.” It quotes executive director, Laurn Yatkor, of Blue Ridge PRISM, an environmental group “that helped draft three of the four new laws.”
She’s quoted as saying that “Invasive plants are one of the most urgent and under-recognized threats to Virginia’s pollinators, songbirds, livestock, waterways, tree canopy, and recreational parks,” She goes on to say, “The scope and the scale of the problem are vast, and it will take a village to repair the damage done and ensure a healthy environment for future generations.”
But where’s the factual
information to support these statements? None exists because nothing could be
further from the truth. Removing so-called invasive plants will only deplete
desperately needed food and habitat for our critters and doom them to the
extinction people supposedly are trying to avoid.
When you truly want to do
what’s best, you take the time to make sure you understand the problems, rather
than simply repeating dogma put forth by numerous groups who don’t actually know
how the environment works.
We are told that these “new
laws aim to support long-term solutions that are more effective at prevention
and species management. Specifically, it illegalizes the planting of invasive
species along state highways, expands the Noxious Weeds List, incentivizes
local jurisdictions to raise funds to control invasive species, and gives state
agencies the ability to use volunteers to control invasive species on state
lands.” Yikes.
What are the alternatives to
planting “invasive” species along our highways? For numerous decades, Virginia
insisted upon nonnative lawn grass as the only plant to be used there, despite
the huge cost—monetarily and environmentally—to keep it mowed regularly
throughout the growing season. Yes, grass had to be kept cut due to societal
expectations for this type of plant, which you can see all around you locally as
you drive by the vast majority of yards.
Even now, with the number of
mowings reduced to twice a year, we still spend an enormous amount of money on Virginia’s
almost 60,000 miles of interstate, primary, secondary, and frontage roads.
But the beauty of leaving
these strips to do their own thing throughout much of the growing season is
that a huge number of nonnative wildflowers have moved in, creating beauty and
interest for the traveler. Now this scenery will be replaced by native plants that
are not going to thrive along interstates. After numerous decades of constant
mowing, the soil has been compacted, which is not conducive to native plants
that have mostly evolved within forests of loose, rich soil.
Common sense should tell you
that the best plants for degraded habitats are, therefore, plants known as
“invasive” because they do so well in areas where the land would otherwise be
quite barren because native plants would struggle. In point of fact, the term
“invasive” is a prejudicial word meant to fool people into believing these
alien plants are somehow “bad” and thus should be hated and removed.
And, adding insult to injury,
nonnative plants are usually removed with pesticides that poison the ground,
the plants they’re used on, and any organisms that happen to be upon the plants
when the pesticide is applied.
Yet, in truth, so-called
invasive plants are actually critically vital saviors, not only for our
wildlife but for our native plants! Over the course of time, nonnative plants
rebuild the soil so that native plants can one day return. And, in the
meantime, they feed and/or provide nesting sites for our wildlife so they
can survive.
Indeed, we should be grateful
for alien plants that can grow in degraded areas instead of denigrating them out
of prejudice based upon ignorance that’s been taught from elementary school on
up for some decades now. And to think such useful plants are now going to be
added to an official “noxious weeds” list, a name that is exceedingly
pejorative and is probably employed to slyly implant the idea in people’s minds
that they should feel contempt for alien plants.
But should they? Absolutely
not. So-called invasive plants feed Virginia’s insects and hummingbirds with
nectar or pollen and songbirds with fruits or seeds—a truth native-plant folks
are loathe to accept.
These new laws meant to “help”
wildlife will instead shepherd its demise. If you own property and truly care
about our critters, my advice is do not follow the recommendations of
government agencies and groups like PRISM who influence them. Stand up for what
is truly best for our environment.
