Property Rights Research by Julie Smithson August 4, 2005

"Invasive Species" is Junk Science.

"Invasive Species" can be almost any plant or animal -- deemed "native" or "non native" -- that "invades" a place it is not welcome. The newly sprouting layer of bureaucracy, regulation, and government graft stems, not from a desire to curb "invasives," but from what is seen as a golden opportunity to tap into many more taxpayer dollars, while further regulating taxpayers and draining property rights.

How can this be, you ask? The media is screaming about "invasive species" from every corner, as though it were a foreign army landing upon our shores. It isn't.

There are already in place regulations and statutes governing the use of noxious weeds and other undesirables. All that need be done is to enforce those laws and revisit species in different areas as they wear out their welcomes or cross the line from "ornamental" to obnoxious. Some species of flora and fauna are welcome in one area and dreaded in another. That is no excuse to forbid them all.

Congress recently struck all "invasive species" language from the Transportation Bill, SAFE-TEA. Why? Such onerous wording would have made all highway projects fair game for those seeking to stop them by merely claiming "invasive species" were present. Learning about the junk science embodied by the "invasive species" frenzy saved America from another layer of unnecessary and duplicitous regulatory imprisonment.

Sound familiar? This is the big brother to "endangered species," that thirty-something year mess that has gutted logging, ranching, commercial fishing, etc., in America and made private property rights little more than a doormat for litigation-happy "environmental" groups who say they're "protecting" or "saving" this or that "poster species." Many species dubbed "endangered" actually aren't, but are simply used to further something increasingly recognized as a rush to acquire vast areas of land and control of water.

Those most incensed about "protecting" and "restoring" "habitat" wax utterly silent when massive conflagrations burn our mismanaged, stagnating forests by the millions of acres -- which also incinerate "endangered" flora and fauna. Where is the hue and cry when countless "Smokey Bears" lose their lives in the face of these fires? Such "protection" of "habitat" is something that most plants and animals certainly don't need. In fact, these out of control wildfires actually endanger much more than they "help." Junk science strikes again.

I make no claims to be an expert on "invasive species" or science, but my daily research has for years provided knowledge that "something's wrong" with the "best available science" being used to strip property rights from honest citizens. When "best available" bears the aroma of last week's fish wrapper, junk science has likely been used.

Perhaps the real "invasive species" are those driving such agendas to create more wealth and power. Please consider.