Nature Out of Balance: How Invasive Species Are Changing the Planet

Nature Out of Balance: How Invasive Species Are Changing the Planet — page 1
Introduction The first thing I see in Uplands Park a natural area near my home in Victoria British Columbia is the Garry oak trees with their huge trunks crooked branches rough gray bark and in summer leathery dark green leaves In spring the meadows around the trees are a blue blanket of camas flowers with patches of hot pink shooting stars delicate fawn lilies and bright yellow spring gold In the winter months the oaks sometimes look ghostly in the mist Deeper in the park though I see things that don’t belong First the bank of Himalayan blackberry Then the thickets of English hawthorn and Scotch broom Worst of all the English ivy which smothers everything on the ground and climbs up the oaks weakening and eventually killing them All these plants were brought by European settlers Even the animals I see in the park gray squirrels rabbits cats and sometimes rats came from elsewhere In April brightly colored wildflowers fill the Garry oak meadows in Uplands Park CHRIS JUNCK 66