Californians, Even Those Environmentalists, Love Those Weeds!

I just ran across this environmentally friendly life-style magazine from the San Francisco Bay area. Here is its link: http://www.eucalyptusmagazine.com/

I haven’t read much of it, but what I have seen I like. What gives me pause, but also leaves me unsurprised, is that the magazine is called Eucalyptus. As the magazine says in its “About Us” section “This magazine is named Eucalyptus because we admire the tree’s healing properties. Its leaves and bark have been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. We also appreciate its adaptability and hardiness, as evidenced by its ability to thrive despite being transplanted far across the globe from its native home of Australia.”

            Eucalyptus are certainly amazing. In San Diego’s Balboa Park, just south of where I live, Eucalyptus trees loom like giants over the park’s historic buildings. A block from my house one grows over a hundred feet tall, and the trunk at its base must be more than five feet in diameter.

            These wonderful trees, however, are not eco-friendly for California. They are invasive, pushing out and replacing our native flora.[i] There are open canyons in San Diego that have been taken over by eucalyptus. Beneath their canopy nothing grows except other nonnative plants. I work with local organizations; part of our conservation work is removing these trees from parkland and open spaces.

            It is unsettling, but unsurprising that when folks wanted a symbol for their health oriented and eco-friendly magazine, they chose the eucalyptus instead of a plant or animal native to the Golden State. As the climate here is mild, we Californians are outdoorsy folks, and we feel ourselves to be in touch with nature. But when we landscape or try to beautify our yards or parks, almost invariably we pick and choose plants from elsewhere. We intersperse eucalyptus with Canary Island date palms and stands of bird of paradise, pretending that we live in a Pacific Island/Australian/South African wonderland—anywhere but southern California.

In suburban landscapes, many of our parks, and along our highways native flora are the exception rather than the rule. Where I live it’s about a five or six block walk to the grocery store from my house. Along the street palms grow, Mexican fan palms and black palms. There are also pepper trees and eucalyptus. Shrubs and other greenery line the lawns along my way. Farther along I walk over a footbridge that passes over an open space about the size of two or three football fields. Looking down to the open space, except for a couple laurel sumac bushes, which are native, the entire open space is overrun with iceplant, eucalyptus, and other nonnative weeds. In my entire walk there are only three or four plants native to San Diego.

            Among the 48 contiguous states California shares with Florida the distinction of hosting the greatest number of nonnative and invasive plants. Of the approximately 7500 plants in California, 1500 of them are nonnatives.[ii] We have entire hillsides that have been taken over with nonnative and invasive plants.

            So you see that we Californians have remade the world around us. And we are out of touch with our natural surroundings to such a degree that even people who may think of themselves as environmentalists embrace an invasive plant as a symbol for their magazine.

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[i] California Invasive Plant Council: http://www.cal-ipc.org/ip/management/plant_profiles/Eucalyptus_globulus.php

[ii] Zedler, P.H., Gautier, C.R., McMaster, G.S., 1983. Vegetation change in response to

extreme events: the effects of a short interval between fires in California

chaparral and coastal scrub. Ecology 64, 809–818.