and used for erosion control. All of this has resulted 

 in federal and state agencies, non-profit organizations, 

 communities, and individuals coming together to ad- 

 dress the issue of invasive plants. 



Solutions to control invasives include managing and 

 restoring existing problem areas and increasing public 

 awareness of the problem while promoting the use of 

 natives. On-the-ground removal options range from 

 handpicking to prescribed burning. A solution that has 

 become attractive to a public increasingly against the 

 use of herbicides is biological control. Though this 

 seemed a hit-or-miss method in the past, causing some 

 present day concerns, today's guidelines require any in- 

 troduced insect predator to pass a strict host specificity 

 test. A recent success story using biological control is 

 the introduction of four beetles that attack purple 

 loosestrife. The beetles have been released in selective 

 spots in New Hampshire and elsewhere where they 



have attacked the leaves and roots of loosestrife and 

 reduced it by up to 90 percent in some places. 

 Though there won't be a total elimination of invasives 

 using this method, it does limit their spread and al- 

 lows for the reestablishment of natives. 



Invasives are on the move. Kudzu, a high-climbing 

 vine that devours large areas of native vegetation, has 

 grown up to a foot a day to take over the southeast. 

 Surviving mild winters, it has arrived in Massachu- 

 setts. Mile-a-minute is another all consuming and de- 

 structive vine that has withstood the cold to spread as 

 far north as New York. Our only hope is they won't 

 grow as quickly as they have elsewhere or move as fast 

 as some of their names imply. 



Diane E. Yorke is a natural resource biologist with the 

 USDA Forest Service in Durham, New Hampshire. For 

 further information call 6oi-868-yyop. 



PIONEER POINTERS 



What Can Go Wrong? 



At the beginning of a new year, growers' 

 thoughts seem to turn to construction 

 projects, to be completed "after the spring sea- 

 son." Soon, the site has been sized up and esti- 

 mates reviewed, the builders have provided their 

 quotes, and the recent great and not-so-great 

 projects of others have been visited. You've 

 talked to the building officer at town hall. 

 You've even talked to your loan officer and had 

 the discussion on 'working capital (The 

 Plantstnan, 6/98) and planning for expansion 

 {The Plantstnan, 6/97) and are comfortable that 

 you have chosen a smart way to finance the 

 project. You're all set, right? 



Once you are at this point, our observation is 

 that three things can commonly go wrong and 

 that "commonly" is the correct word. The first 

 is that visit to the building officer. Inevitably, 

 what were believed to be no-issue rubber-stamp 

 permits and approvals from various health, 

 building, zoning, wetlands, etc., commissions are 

 not "no issue." The message here is to probe 

 further during that first visit, especially if your 

 timeline is tight. 



This leads to the second wrinkle: the 

 timeline. Schedules which are too tight lead to 

 problems coordinating suppliers and builders, as 

 well as getting all the needed municipal permits 



to begin with. Leave yourself room to breath 

 and you will be able to make the appropriate 

 changes during construction without causing 

 chaos. A failure to budget enough time is an in- 

 vitation to disrupted production schedules and 

 increased costs. 



The third — and often most significant — finan- 

 cial wrinkle is cost overruns. Everyone invariably 

 thinks they have a good handle on the project, 

 but it isn't uncommon to see 10-2.0% overruns 

 on "high" cost estimates. Fifty-percent overruns 

 are not unheard of and, when they occur, they 

 can have a significant negative impact on finan- 

 cial position. While a lender can review the pro- 

 posal for "big picture" issues and ask if certain 

 items have been budgeted in, it's often a long 

 list of small items that break the budget. Ulti- 

 mately, it is the owner who needs to assure that 

 all bases are covered — and it is the owner who 

 reaps the rewards or suffers the failure after a 

 construction project is finished. 



Building projects, while not always fun, can 

 be exciting experiences. The fun part is being 

 able to pat yourself on the back when it's done 

 and say that it's all that you planned for and on 

 budget to boot. If you have any questions about 

 the lender's phase, please call our office at l- 

 8oo-8a$-3252. (KK) 



