At 08:41 PM 5/19/2005 -0400, you wrote: >More info on Isotria medeoloides / public-utilities project on hold in >Virginia, US : > >"waiting for the flower to bloom so a plant expert can determine the true >identity of the plants... > >"My hope is it's not there at all," public works director Alan Harrison said. >"It will make life a lot easier on everybody." > >Last fall, the state said that the federally threatened species could exist on >seven sites where New Kent County plans to run water and sewer lines in an >attempt to attract business development... > >"We are positively insane in this country to go to this length to protect >something," said Steve Haner, vice president for public policy for the >Virginia Chamber of Commerce. "What you've got here is an example of a >potentially good idea that's absolutely run amok, that they would hold up a >project like that over a plant that just might be there and they're not even >sure it's the same plant. I mean, c'mon. It's just silly."
I, for one, am glad to see the government entities attempting to take care of their natural resources for a change. Too often, here in Florida, you see government-initiated projects (road widenings, mowing of roadsides, other construction) that takes no regard of any protected orchid or other plant species that may be inhabiting that area. Just the other day, I was driving through an area in southern Florida where I knew lots of Encyclia tampensis to be growing. To my dismay, they were widening that highway from a two-lane to a four-lane, and you could see that a lot of swampland had been razed to the ground and burned for the widening to take place. Many Enc. tampensis and likely Epi. magnoliae met their end in this project. The irony is that if someone had been collecting the same plants a month or two prior to the widening and someone knowledgeable had caught him/her, that person would have been fined and or jailed for his/her actions. It seems that in Florida, the main reason we have laws protecting orchids is to allow the government to raise a little more revenue so they can use it to mow down the same orchids in their construction projects. ---Prem www.premdesign.com _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
