Got this in email today and thought I'd pass it along to everyone here. This sort of thing has been discussed here before.

I do not know the person who wrote it.

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Go to: http://www.wfaa.com/news/gardening-114250684.html

Or go to www.WFAA.com and click the topic "New rules for backyard water gardens" and view an excerpt from the 2.5 hour program we attended last night.

From here on is content and my research about the meeting on 1/19/2011 [if you want links, scroll to them and read for yourself]:

The TX Parks & Wildlife (TPWD) chairman, Ken K. was there. He really never addressed any of the issues brought up, but quietly let everyone that wanted to speak have 5 minutes. Dennis spoke and I spoke and so did about 20 other people. About 40-50 people were there from all over the metro area.

Our opinion is that this was merely a lip service and they have no intention of changing what they are doing. Two armed game wardens were there, I guess, in case we "got out of hand".

You cannot have any plant in your pond nor dry lands that is not on their white list. The aquarium clubs were the most outspoken because their water gardens are all indoors and they cannot breed rare fish if they cannot duplicate the plants from the fish habitats.

TPWD said that beginning May 1st, they will start "enforcing" these plant rules. They tried to avoid that subject by saying they were not going after the homeowners as much as the sellers of plants. However, they handed us the legislative rules and it's in there that there are penalties for possession of these plants.

Someone directed a very real comment at Mr. Ken: How can you enforce a White list with hundreds of plants on it when you have never been able to enforce the Black list that has been there for years. He never answered!

The group pointed out inconsistencies in TPWD decisions that were made by a committee that has no experts about plants. There was a botanist there and he offered his services to be on the committee. He has personally worked with water plants for more than 15 years before he got his degree in botany and has been a botanist for more than 5 years.

They made each attendee fill out a sheet of paper with our name, address, phone number and why we were there. Now we are all a target for their investigations in the future.

Nobody there came away with any positive feelings about the way TPWD would handle our comments and concerns nor did he answer but about two questions all night.

The final vote of the commission for the plant list is at TPWD in Austin January 27th and then the list will be sent out. If a plant is not on the White list, you cannot have it. Ken did say you can submit a request that they evaluate your plant, but that can take months. If you grow exotics, you can make application for special permission but the application cost between $263 and $500 to submit! See these definitions in the Legislative info:

(1) "Approved list" means the list published by the department under Subsection (b)(2) of exotic aquatic plants that a person may import into or possess in this state without an exotic species permit issued by the department.

(2) "Exotic aquatic plant" means a nonindigenous aquatic plant that is not normally found in aquatic or riparian areas of this state.

When the public finally gets more news about this sneaky legislation, they are going to be very mad. If you grow any of the plants on land that can be aquatic and are not on the white list, you are in violation and subject to a fine. When I spoke, I directed my questions at Mr. Ken about how TPWD is going to help us identify species of our plants and how TPWD is going to inform the homeowners that have these plants in their yards on dry land. I asked if they were going to send notice to all property owners in the state. I said that I choose to obey the law, whether or not I am discovered I do not like feeling like I am a criminall with my plants. He never responded to my comments.

The pond owners said after the meeting that they are NOT going to have their ponds on tour this year because they do not want TPWD officials having a free invitation to investigate their plants in and around their ponds.

We shall see what happens. I wonder how the public felt after the newscast last night on channel 8. (We can be seen in one of the photos.)

Since last night, I went to the TPWD site and clicked on penalties and it sends you to a link for the TX Legislature and I read through the whole thing till I came to penalties for invasive plants. It does not quote a fine but aquatic plants comes under 66.007 and it says it is a Class B misdemeanor. See this link:

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PW/htm/PW.66.htm [(b) A person who violates Section 66.003, 66.004, 66.005, 66.006(c), 66.007, 66.009, 66.015, 66.021, or 66.0091 of this code commits an offense that is a Class B Parks and Wildlife Code misdemeanor.)

We will keep you posted on the results. The White list was last updated 1/11/2011 and can be viewed at:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/exotic/aquatic_plants/proposed_list.phtml

End of Email

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I did a quick check of Ineligible Species List, even though I do not have a water garden... lo and behold I found that

Ruellia brittoniana Blue bell, Mexican petunia, Britton's wild petunia is forbidden. I don't have any.. but I did at the old house. I know lots of people here grow it. Does this mean someone's going to jail?? :)

I understand the reasons behind forbidding certain plants but I also know this can lead to a whole lot of other landscape plants being forbidden.