Without a doubt, our island is no stranger to problematic invaders. The usual suspects occupy the usual locations – Asiatic bittersweet and Multiflora rose dominate roadsides and fencerows – but invasives threaten ecologically sensitive and valuable habitats as well, including our ponds (the reed Phragmites) and the sandplain grasslands near the southern shore (several, including Spotted knapweed and Cypress spurge). Because of the importance of these habitats, a considerable amount of effort from local land managers is spent trying to control them. Consistent with this effort, there is a budding enterprise to spread native gardening and landscaping, an effort which helps strengthen native ecosystems and build resistance to the threat of present and future invasions. Recently, though, the whole idea of “going native” has come under attack. From the Globe article:

“. . . underneath all these efforts is a potent and galvanizing idea: that if we work hard enough to keep foreign species from infiltrating habitats where they might do harm, we can help nature heal from the damage we humans have done to it as a civilization.”

But is this so? In the absence of a survey of the opinions of the “ecologists and conservationists” that are the subject of the claim, this appears to just be attempted mind-reading. Others take their telepathic insights to more antagonistic levels. Mark Davis, the lead author of the Nature article (subscription req.) that helped spark the conflagration, sees nostalgia driving the fight against invasive species: “Newcomers are viewed as a threat because the world that you remember is being displaced by this new world.” Finally, some criticisms, such as this Op-Ed in the N.Y. Times, see a connection between efforts to control invasive species and the recent rise in anti-immigrant sentiment in America. Comparing the native species movement with the Minutemen (the militia group that patrols the Southwestern border), the author concludes that “both are motivated — in Margaret Thatcher’s infamous phrase — by the fear of being swamped by aliens.” (Continued at the VCS website, 2nd column)

The fair runs August 18-21, from 10 am to 11 pm (ending at 7 pm on the 21st) at the fairgrounds on Panhandle Rd. in West Tisbury. If you can't make it out to the fair (though we hope you can!), you can read the story at our website.