Eight Hypothesis for Invasive Species

                The two actors I chose to focus my study on this semester was the Mequon Nature Preserve and Eattheinvaders.org.

                I found there are many strengths to the Mequon Nature Preserve. They succeed at getting people in the local Milwaukee area to learn about nature as well as restoring a prairie/woodland back to what it was like naturally. They are doing things like making exhibits of the ash trees there to show people what was there before the invasive ash borer. They have also seen some increased biodiversity in the nature preserve since restoring the wetlands and removing invasive species. They are very strong at increasing awareness and involvement.

                Some limitations of this actor could be that they are limited to only 438 acres of land. One problem I encountered during my field work there was that invasive species from neighboring lands can still easily find their ways over to the nature preserve because of seeds being easily spread. They are not allowed to go to others properties to remove these invasive species unless allowed which could lead to problems of invasive species coming back to the nature preserve. Others wanting to copy something like the MNP could be difficult if countries are still trying to develop in other areas such as their economy.

                There are a good amount of strengths about the network eattheinvaders.org. Something that they are doing is giving a solution to really anyone with access to a computer or a library to help stop the problem of invasive species by foraging and eating them. To my knowledge, while this is a good idea one weakness may be that it seems like a relatively new idea and may not be inspiring too large of a population. People are also really picky and may not be as adventurous in the food they eat. I do think there is a chance to make a market out of it to possibly deter the spread but I do not think this may be the ultimate solution. Thinking about this more though invasive species are a wicked problem so there really would have to be many solutions possibly including this.

                Reading over J.P. Evans 8 Hypothesis there come across a couple that really seem to fit for terrestrial invasive species:

                ”Governance is about learning” is a perfect way to do this. This also plays into the part of getting the mix of approaches right. By changing laws based on past problems we are making the approaches right. As we learn knowledge is able to be exchanged by people. When we look at the Mequon Nature Preserve we are teaching a generation of children as well as adults. Another way to interpret this would be learning from past regulations or ways of dealing with environmental species.

                Many invasive species were brought in in the past without knowing the havoc they could cause for reasons such as eating, medicine or for decoration. The example of garlic mustard which is a common invasive in both prairies and woodlands in the United States is a great example. In the 1800s it was introduced, obviously now we have to deal with the problem now that we have learned and are studying it. We have now found methods for removal, and we know why it is bad for ecosystems. We now have methods such as burning and herbicides to remove them. Continuing to learn about them and finding technological solutions may be one of our strongest methods to counter them.

 

                “Getting the mix of approaches right” is also another one. For something that is such a global problem such as the spread of terrestrial invasive species we need multiple types of governance such as regulations. We need global actors as well as the local actors like the Mequon Nature Preserve. Even actors that may not reach out to a largest audience like eattheinvaders.org. Also we need a combination of different networks. An example would be that many invasive species get in from shipping goods from one country to another these regulations have allowed much of this to stop in certain places. Interest in multiple approaches can allow governance to steer solutions in the right direction.