Image Credit: USDA, Forest Service
A childhood friend had a large river-bottom farm in the Missouri Ozarks. For some reason, I never tired of hearing the story or riding out on a John Deere tractor to look at patches of Multiflora Rose. (Perhaps I just liked riding the tractor.)
The original idea of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service was that Multiflora Rose was the ideal fence for large farms. It grew into a 10-foot high hedge with thorns guaranteed to discourage the most determined pasture animals. State conservation departments joined the bandwagon because it provided cover for small birds and game.
Fast-forward to today, and the Department of Agriculture considers it an invasive species. It does everything it promised - but also spreads across fields and woodlands, choking out desired plant life. As the Sarah Jessica Parker character in Hocus Pocus, chants, "Amok, amok, amok!"
Multiflora Rose explains that the plant was originally imported from Japan in 1866 as rootstock for ornamental roses. Then in the 1935, the U.S. Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act. This was to address the problems of the dust bowls of the 1930s and the plight of farmers who were harvesting too much produce. By paying farmers to not till their soil, the crop surpluses were avoided, and better agricultural techniques were introduced. Wiki tells that within three years of establishment of the Soil Conservation Service, soil erosion had dropped 65 percent.
Image
Credit: USDA, Forest Service
A similar story can be told about Kudzu. Wiki advises its nickname is, "the vine that ate the South". Kudzu was imported from Japan in 1876. Kudzu tells that the plant chokes native plants by smothering them with leaves and can even uproot trees and shrubs with its weight.
The vines can reach 100 feet in length, growing up to 60 feet in a single season. Their tap roots can be up to 7 inches in diameter. The Civilian Conservation Corps planted it in the South to reduce soil erosion starting in 1935.
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