Hi again. The purpose of this message is 1) to let others know about an opportunity for WO related to control of invasive exotics that I learned of today, and 2) to forward an announcement from the WO national office regarding the availability of a "weed control handbook" on line for free. I haven't checked it out yet but it sounds potentially useful. See below for more info.
The opportunity - Nancy Nelson, Chair of the Duluth Tree Commission, called to tell me that the Beneficial Group for Environmental Improvement that overseas issuance of grants (from money in a trust fund created as a result of an agreement between MPCA, Interlake and others) is encouraging more people to submit grant pre-proposals by tomorrow's deadline. The requirements for the proposed projects are that they 1) result in some environmental benefit which is tangible and visible to the community and 2) take place within the St. Louis River watershed. Nancy arrived at the idea of requesting funding ($5000) to help cover costs removing buckthorn and tartarian honeysuckle from city-owned property along the St. Louis River. This would include the Western Waterfront Trail, Indian Point campground, Lake Superior Zoo and other sites that Kelly F., the City Forester, has noted as having been invaded by buckthorn or honeysuckle or both. Originally the Tree Commission was going to submit the proposal, but the grant proposal reviewing organization said that they are especially interested in receiving applications from citizen organizations, and the City of Duluth has already applied for grants from them for other projects. Therefore Nancy asked if Wild Ones is interested in serving as the main grant requester and "sponsoring organization." We would mainly serve to oversee use of the grant money. The project itself would be mainly undertaken under the direction of Kelly Fliesner, City Forester, who would hire and oversee crews, etc.
Because 1) this is only a draft proposal, so we have some time to work out details before submitting a final proposal, IF the pre-proposal is selected, and 2) it doesn't sound like it would require large amounts of time from WO members, I worked with Nancy to make a few changes to the application that she had already prepared and said SURE, go ahead and send it in with our name as the main sponsor and Tree Commission as a cosponsor. I apologize for not running this past members first, however, it was important to meet the submittal deadline. If there is a fatal flaw with this plan, let me know, and if necessary we can withdraw the application. I think it sounds like a great opportunity that again fits in with projects we have discussed doing, AND Nancy had already done all the work of preparing the application, so ... it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
----Original Message Follows----
From: WOresource@aol.com
To: wildones-chapters@ic.net
Subject: Fwd: Fw: Online Weed Control Handbook Available
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 14:46:54 EDT
In a message dated 4/12/2001 3:48:19 PM Central Daylight Time,
snowflakesrtumblin@yahoo.com writes:
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 11:45 AM
Subject: Online Weed Control Handbook Available
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has placed a weed control handbook online,
which you may find useful. See the announcement below. Please pass on to
interested parties.
Announcement
1. Weed Control Methods Handbook online! (Global)
From: Barry Meyers-Rice (bazza@ucdavis.edu)
TNC's Wildland Invasive Species Program is delighted to announce the
online publication of the Weed Control Methods Handbook. This handbook is
what every natural areas manager should know about weed control methods.
Consisting of seven chapters and six appendices, it reviews manual,
grazing, fire, biocontrol, and herbicide techniques. There are even
in-depth discussions of eleven different herbicides, plus a great deal of
supporting information on herbicide use. Nearly 200 pages if you were to
print out the entire book.
This meaty manual (but good even for vegetarians) is available, free for
the download at our web site:
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu
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