An interesting flip-side to the question might be, “What are the ethics of not removing invasive plants?” The problem is (at least in CA, but I suspect in many other places as well), there are highly invasive plants which can be identified and removed by the proper agencies, but there is a lack of knowledge, funding, resources, and education on the part of public and private agencies alike which precludes “nipping the problem in the bud” before it’s too far gone to manage.
That being said, it’d be irresponsible not to mention that ID confidence needs to be at a very high level, ideally confirmed through multiple observations of the invasive species during flowering to confirm to the species level.
One person earlier in the thread brought up a very good point about native thistles (at least in CA), where there may easily be confusion between native thistle (Cirsium brevistylum and others) and invasive Cirsium or even invasive Carduus by those less familiar with native thistles–some Californians aren’t even aware that there are native thistles, so this is a great example of where good intentions could be very harmful to native species!
For me, do no harm always comes first, but if I see invasive french broom (Genista monspessulana) in an area I frequent at a monthly basis, 9 times out of 10 I’ll do a quick look around and pull or break the stem if I can, replace and pack down the disturbed dirt and come back in a month or so to get any seedlings or plants I missed.
This is where the ethics of not pulling out invasive exotic plants comes in, since Genista is a highly invasive (and highly recognizable) plant which can easily take over an area by spreading thousands of seeds a season, choking out natives, and greatly increasing fire risk, and reducing habitat value for endemic plants, birds, insects, etc.
Ideally, I’d get permission and go through the proper channels, but as another person in the thread mentioned, this can take a while (though I am getting more interested in doing so in areas which are more thoroughly managed). This might be the best idea, in terms of getting trained and organized ‘weed warriors’
to work on removing invasive plants.
I get the idea of ‘a drop in the bucket/ocean’ echoed by many in this thread, but, and not to be cheesy, it’s important to remember that the ocean is nothing but a collection of individual drops, so again, in my mind it’s always important to consider the flip side of every argument.
It’s a thorny issue, the solution or answer to which is probably as varied as the number of unique circumstances and ecosystem contexts that exist!