Response to Eric Ganser

Purple loosestrife

Eric Ganser comments really don't make a lot of sense

1) Purple loosestrife spreads from a variety of reasons not just floods and has been in the US since the 1800's. It's habitat is vast, purple loosestrife occurs widely in wet habitats, such as marshes, bogs, pannes, fens, sedge meadows, and wet prairies, but it also occurs in roadside ditches, on river banks, and at the edges of reservoirs.

2) Seeds may be dispersed by water, wind and in mud attached to animals.
Purple loosestrife also spreads vegetatively. Root or stem segments can form new flowering stems. Muskrat cuttings and mechanical clipping can also contribute to rapid spread by floating in riverine and lacustrine systems.

3) How can he say the trees in the flood plan forest will be blow downs?
They are flood plan forests that have been flooded numerous times and still continue to grow. If he is trying to insinuate that the dirt behind the riprap was flood plan forest dirt floor he is wrong, the fill/dirt that fills in behind the riprap is sediment from the lakes bottom that becomes suspended from wave action and washes over the top of the riprap and settles to the bottom.

Joe Fuller
*part time camper