The Bradford Pear conspiracy !

[ness]

They were the 'Street Tree' the developer gave to each lot in the neighborhood  where I live. Everybody got one, but somehow I got two. Then we all just sat back and waited for them to split. My bigger one finally split last year and I paid a guy $$$ to cut it up and haul it away. Since then I've had suckers coming up from where it was. The other one has always had suckers coming up and it drops little berries on the ground. Ruby eats them as soon as they hit the ground, with no ill effect to date. They're usually pretty for anywhere from a couple days to a week, then I just wish they were gone. Never again. 

[fishinwrench]

We thanked MDC and gave them lots of credit for providing all those saplings for our scout troop, and giving lessons on how to plant them.   They were very generous.  

Just goes to show how intelligence evolves, and why it's not a good idea to tamper with native species, introduce experiments, and force cross breeding just because some biologist needs something to allocate funds for.

[BilletHead]

     

18 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

Destruction of a native species is something I may be able to live with, but it is still extremely undesirable.

         Again I would like proof friend. Just like proof positive you have threadfin shad in LOZ.  .  You are the one that says they are in there and hybrids are messing things up. Can you back this? If you can prove it to me I will believe you. What is it they say? Seeing is believing? Proof positive please. 

BilletHead

[liphunter]

The Truth is out there!!! 

[fishinwrench]

I don't have the capability or the desire to prove that male hybrids are fertilizing White Bass eggs, I just know that it is happening.   I don't know whether the result of that is a bad thing or a good thing either.....I just think it's safer to not do it.

Where's the proof that hybrid stripers are beneficial to an ecosystem ?

Where's the proof that Bradford Pear trees, or mustard greens, are actually harming anything ?   

The only thing I can prove right now is that you automatically trust the word of any biologist, and automatically discredit the word of someone who spends A LOT more time in the field, during a single year, than any biologist has in their entire career.   I believe me. Whether you do or not is entirely up to you and doesn't effect me, the whites, the shad, or anything else.  

[BilletHead]

    You who are you talking about Wrench? Don't know about mustard greens but the Bradford Pear is proliferating at an alarming rate. If left unchecked they take over fields and pastures and just like other invasive things displace native ones. I can show you places that they have taken over.  Like I said before multiflora rose, secrisa lespedeza and Autumn Olive have done that. Can't get enough of those hybrid stripers though . Actually it would be nice if they were as thick as carp!

 BilletHead 

[fishinwrench]

39 minutes ago, liphunter said:

The Truth is out there!!! 

That's right !    It is out there, not in a labratory or on a spreadsheet.

[fishinwrench]

3 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

I can show you places that they have taken over. 

And I can show you places where the White/Hybrid mutts have taken over.  Obvious pure strain White bass are not common anymore.  They comprise of less than 1/4 of what I catch in the Fall, and maybe 1/2 of what I caught in the Spring last year.   This year.... we'll see.

[BilletHead]

28 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

That's right !    It is out there, not in a labratory or on a spreadsheet.

 

18 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

And I can show you places where the White/Hybrid mutts have taken over.  Obvious pure strain White bass are not common anymore.  They comprise of less than 1/4 of what I catch in the Fall, and maybe 1/2 of what I caught in the Spring last year.   This year.... we'll see.

           Ok if this is all true show me. Better than that if it you are so passionate about it you should do the right thing. Be a Dana Scully or Fox Mulder and show us the truth is out there. Be a whistle blower and show us the conspiracy you speak of. I gave you a fictitious couple of characters here but there are plenty of real whistle blowers who have shown us the truth on things.  I need to be shown to believe. I read, I study and I ask questions. I am not a scientist and don't pretend to be. Are you by any chance wearing a tin foil hat and have you been to area 51? Been abducted yet? I am not disbelieving you I want to know too and need again I say to be shown. I Like my hybrids like MoCarp likes his carp and you like your white bass. Guess we are more alike that we think .   "The Truth Is Out There " Someone needs to find it before you get mad at me,

  BilletHead

[fishinwrench]

I ain't mad.  And I liked catching hybrids too, until I started recognizing what was going on.  

The whole thing might just be a non-issue, but if by chance it evolves into a real issue there's no turning back, no fixing it.  And IMO it won't have been worth it.   Hybrids are fun, but they have genes that are detrimental to survival, and I don't think we need to be mixing those genes with native white bass who have done quite well on their own since the beginning of time.    Things like that shouldn't be phucked with, regardless of how smart you think you are, and especially by the same folks that gave us kids all those pear trees to plant.  That's my only point.