Chronicle hype and hysteria about "invasive" plants
The Editor
The Home & Garden Section
The San Francisco Chronicle
To the Editor:
Wrongly-aimed hype and hysteria seem to have showed up with your recent front-page article, INVADERS! (The Chronicle, March 15) about how some "invasive" plants are taking over Northern California. Actually, it's the endless human population growth and endless spreading of human developments, such as condos, shopping malls, office complexes, roads and parking lots, that are taking over Northern California and the rest of the earth, that are the biggest threat to the remaining natural environment, than any plants.
Surprisingly, this invasive plant list included the modest Myoporum tree, a nice, small, umbrella-shaped, salt-resistant, wind-resistant street tree that originally hails from coastal New Zealand. It was one of the few trees that could survive the rigors of life in the windy, barren, newly-built Foster City some forty years ago. Also on this list is the much-demonized Blue Gum Eucalyptus tree, which provides cover, nesting habitat and roosting perches for dozens of species of birds. Blue Gums are also the preferred over-wintering habitat for the Monarch Butterflies, providing flower nectar, as well as roosting habitat. Another surprise on this list is the Salt Cedar or Tamarisk plant, which grows in deserts in southern California and southern Arizona. I didn't know that it was considered a problem by some in the Bay Area.
This article also claims that introduced plants decrease bio-diversity and cause floods! Actually, introducing new species of plants increases biodiversity by increasing the number and variety of species. Floods are almost always caused by humans covering the planet's soil with asphalt and concrete structures, which stops soil from naturally absorbing rain and thus creates faster runoff which results in overflowing streams and rivers (which we call "flooding").
If you are really serious about protecting the environment, have fewer children or gasp, don't reproduce at all. Fewer children will mean less consumption and less development and will thus slow down human destruction of the earth's natural environment.
End.
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