Prompted Post 10/10: Evaluating Sources

I found an article that wants to implement a plan to reduce the threat of invasive species into forests and to improve sustainability of those forests. They are effectively arguing the problem, which isn’t know by most Americans, that invasive species have a large impact on affected forests health. The way they relay information is effective and appointed to a general audience. “This is an outcome-based science plan rather than a conventional research agenda; it focuses on research, development, and applications to enable effective actions.” (Chornesky). So in a way, the author of this article is hoping to inform an audience that action needs to be taken to protect forests; hopefully, quick and effective action needs to be taken to fix the problem before it becomes a major issue.

By addressing the problems like the decrease of forest biodiversity and the decrease of forest productivity the author is arguing the significance of forests to everyone and a calling for preventative action. Again, there is that idea of preventative measures rather than fixing forests after they’ve been affected by invasive species. This addresses the idea of kairos that we’ve been discussing in class and calls for preventative forestry action now. People need to become informed on the importance of forests in water cycles and food yield that we depend on, as human beings, every day of our lives. Learning this sooner rather than later will benefit everyone and keep our forests healthy. Ideas like increased trade monitoring and better pest suppression seem like the basis of this plan. Preventative action makes the most sense to me because stopping the problem before it even starts is most effective. The purpose was clear and informative that forests are hurt from invasive species and plan action needs to be taken to stop them. Knowledge is key about forest management so I’m certain that this plan would be, at very least, a great start in the overall improvement of forest health on a global scale.

Works cited:

Chornesky, Elizabeth A., et al. "Science Priorities for Reducing the Threat of Invasive Species to Sustainable Forestry." Bioscience 55.4 (2005): 335-48. ProQuest. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.