Eucalyptus

Look up at the towering eucalyptus tree, a familiar sight in the Bay Area with its distinctive scent and bark. The most common variety in the Bay Area is the blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus). Planted for their rapid growth — which benefited the timber industry — in 1910, these trees now spark debates over their environmental impact. While displacing native plants and poisoning soil with allelopathic (tree-produced) chemicals, they also provide habitat for wildlife and endure urban challenges.

Today, people debate their role in the landscape: should they remain as an act of preservation or be removed to further ecological progress? For example: the East Bay Regional Parks District and the Oakland Fire Department are removing and/or thinning eucalyptus trees in the Oakland Hills due to their high fire risk, while habitat organizations such as the Xerces Society and Sierra Club oppose removal, citing their importance to Monarch butterflies and raptors.