Commercial sales of protected plants
Kenneth Hixson (Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:09:43 PST)
Marguerite English wrote:
Seems to me that the government doesn't have a charter for this. What
about the Lily group or even PBS developing a program to propagate and
distribute such species, and working for a legal way to handle protected
species. This could start with rescue of threatened populations. It
would require someone to come up with a well-defined program, and an
adequate means of distribution. Could this be a more effective way to
go about the protection of endangered plants?
Jim McKenney wrote:
It occurred to me that it would make good sense to have government
subsidized programs to propagate certain endangered plant species and to
support their establishment as commercial crops.
Seems to me a couple things are not being mentioned
here, such as the fact that if a private (ie, commercial)
source were to make endangered species available, there would
be no need for a government worker to do the "rescue", and
no need for a government manager to submit grant requests, etc.
Big brother has repeatedly shown that only big brother is
looking out for what is best for us--even if we disagree.
The North American Lily Society has an affiliated group--
called the Species Lily Preservation Group, with a propagation
and distribution (sales)program. Membership requires dues
(to the SPLG). I don't happen to be a member, so I don't know
to what extent the recent illness of Ed McRae has affected
the program, but other members of PBS are, and probably
can give further details. The URL for the lily society is:
The Species Lily Preservation Group:
http://www.lilies.org/slpg.html
Dues are listed at $12.00/year.
In these days of tissue culture, it only takes
a stem tip, or an immature bud, to produce thousands of
plants--or any number desired. The techniques and procedures
are known, the facilities are available, it just takes
money, a little time, and the willingness on the part
of big brother to allow it to happen. We could be
re-establishing rare/endangered plant species back into
suitable habitats, without government funded programs.
If big brother wants to fund it, it could be done without
any more governmental programs. Alternatively, something
like the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) or Forest Service,
the Soil Conservation Service, or state land grant Universities
could oversee this kind of program.
Idealistic? Yes, but it could happen.
Ken