Over 400,000 trees in the Oakland and Berkeley hills and surrounding corridors will fall to the chainsaw, including Eucalyptus, Monterey Pine, Monterey Cypress, and Acacia. Habitat for owls, squirrels, raccoons, and many other animals will simply be wiped out and thousands of gallons of toxic herbicides made by Dow and Monsanto—including those found to be toxic to wildlife, cancerous to humans, to destroy the kidneys and liver of dogs, and when cruelly tested on animals, resulted in rats being born with their brains outside of their skulls—will be applied in wildlife habitat, near people’s homes, in dog parks and other recreational corridors. Why? To satisfy the personal prejudices of native plant ideologues who believe these trees don’t belong here and thus want to turn forests which provide habitat to hundreds of thousands of animals into “grassland with islands of shrub.” Although all four species of trees are scheduled for clear-cutting, proponents of deforestation hold out a special hatred of Eucalyptus. The San Francisco Chronicle recently ran a hit piece, vilifying Eucalyptus. The article is ignorant in its conclusions, arrogant in scope, and a great disservice to Oakland’s citizens, residents of the hills, the wild animals who make the Eucalyptus groves their homes, the dog walkers, cyclists, hikers, and others who seek out the majesty and beauty of the trees to recreate, and to the great historical legacy of men like Joaquin Miller who planted them and Robert Sibley who bequeathed them in perpetuity for future generations.
Click here to read “The Jewels in Oakland’s Crown: In Defense of Eucalyptus Trees,” the article by my wife and I in The Huffington Post.
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