To be mapped or not to be mapped.
November 23, 2008 - 5:32am
In away it comes down to this: Do we have a right to keep things simple, to ignorance?
A neighbour, who leads a local environmental group, has asked for permission to go over this family farm with this group to make a record the kind of plants that grow here. Their objective seems to be to make a kind of inventory of local plant life. The locations of some of these plants are GPS recorded.
What would be your response?
Would it be to the plants advantage to be mapped?
I guess the only trepidation I'd have is if they found something that could change how you are allowed to farm or work the farm. And, I really can't imagine that happening, really. But I'd check into it, first.
That paranoid observation put aside, increasing your knowledge of what's on your land is never a bad thing. There may be-- likely is-- invasive species of plants you could do without, if it's practicle to control or eradicate them. It's quite likely that there are benificial plants that you don't know about there that are good to have around. Get the data, and then spend a day googling the plant names. You'll find many of them have forgotten utilities.
There are upsides and downsides to everything, but on balance I would say that mapping increases your power to resist negative impacts on the land and plants. Mapping is basically establishing a baseline of what existed at a particular time. If future development in your area impacts your land you can uses the map to establish a loss. If you don’t have baseline data it is difficult to do that.
Recording baseline data is a big part of what environmentalists do in my area. Water quantity, quality and timing of flow have been recorded, sometimes for many years. A unique species of lichen was found and mapped on the mountain behind my land, and in a nearby valley slated for logging several previously unknown species were found. These facts can be used to delay or restrict unwanted development.
What plants are on my property, is my business, what plants are on other people's private lands are their business. I do not need, nor want them mapped, nor do I want to know what other people have on their land growing.
However, if people want to map crown lands fine.
___________________________________________________________ "watching the tide roll away"
Thanks for the responses
Personally I like the idea that there are still blanc areas on a map. On the other hand they can be a magnet to the curious. From a plants perspective there is probably more protection in not being mapped.
I usually do not deny people access to the farm if they want to go for a walk into the woods to enjoy nature. But when they want to map things out then it gets to be a bit like prospecting. Which could lead to conflicting interests.
Maybe the solution is to let them look at the vegetation, with the condition that no mapping takes place. Curious if they would still be interested.
Over the years I have made many pictures of plants that grow here, many that I have, due to time constrains, not identified yet.
I live in an area with a a lot of rare plants, some that are endangered and only grow in this area. I actually asked a local environmental group to come and take a look at our property. It was good they did. They found one species that is quite rare. It is on a list now and maybe a map for all I know and I got advice on how to ensure it's survival. We do have some risk with certain invasive species that tend to take over the type of habitat that it lives in and I now know what to watch for.
I don't have a problem with people coming and doing that type of work in general but I would ask for a specific reason why. If it's about recording for something like a baseline that was mentioned above it's likely for a reason. To get an understanding of the effects of climate change on a ecological level is one thing that comes to mind as I have heard of some groups that are working at getting data on plant life around where we are for that reason. Ecological changes are important to understand and plants can be an indicator of much more then just their own existence. I personally think something like that is important because it's an issue that effects everyone. Plants and ecological changes don't tend to recognize property lines. They're kinda like that.
You might want to ask your neighbor for what purpose and whether he'll be making any money from the survey.
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Yes, ElizaQ, I should ask for more details on their objective.