Frankentrees to the rescue

“The USDA is currently taking public comments on whether or not the company ArborGen should be allowed to conduct 29 field trials of genetically engineered "cold tolerant" eucalyptus trees in the U.S. This massive experiment, which is on the verge of being green-lighted, will literally be using nature as the laboratory to test more than 260,000 frankentrees.” http://www.organicconsumers.org/

I think eucalyptus trees are beautiful in their tan/green mottled bark and silvery leaves. On a warm day a forest of eucalyptus trees is unbelievably fragrant. I first saw them in Costa Rica. First the rain forest was cleared to make way for eucalyptus tree plantations. Then, eventually most were cleared to create pastures for the beef herds. Neither plant nor animal were native, or ideally suited to the climate and terrain, but both were farmed by outsiders for profit, environmental concerns be damned.

I next saw them in Spain’s Canary Islands. Some of the ancient cloud forests around Mt Teide  had been cleared and replanted with eucalyptus generations ago. Monocultures don’t occur in nature. They are ripe for disease and insect devastation because there are so many in one place. Eucalyptus are disease and insect tolerant, perfect for monoculture planting. They are also invasive, the surrounding forest is eventually over run, a forest millions of years in the making - compromised.

The Canary Island of Tenerife is under particular stress as ecotourism bumps up against the imported and invading plant species. It is estimated that native plant species now only represent 50% of the total plant species to be found there. To combat the problem, the Tenerife government has committed much money and manpower to irradicate the culprits, including the  eucalyptus. During my tour I was proudly told that several square kilometers were already cleared. The scope of the problem is such, however, that new eucalyptus trees can grow from seed in the cleared areas as fast as they can be removed.

In the mountains above Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, eucalyptus trees were planted to shade the coffee crop - after the rain forest was cleared, of course. The towering non-native trees are soaring, massive in trunk, and a nuisance to farmers and gardeners.

We have a eucalyptus farm in New York State. There is a large nursery and florist market for the fragrant, silvery leaf plants. Because of the cold (zone 5) New York climate this farm is all under glass. The foliage is harvested before the trees are sexually mature, more bushes than trees, really, while the color is at its most silver. They offer no threat to our native plants, no possibility of overrunning our forests, disrupting habitats of rare and protected plants and animals. They are an economic boon to our community.

All that can change with the new Frankentrees. There can be no guarantee that they will be 100% sterile, as presented. Tree pollen can travel hundreds of miles, cross borders, and create the possibility of corrupting existing forests, maybe the entire Northwoods. If it reaches another non-sterile eucalyptus, the resultant seeds of this invasive species would accelerate the plant’s spread.

Many times in the past eucalyptus trees were seen as the miracle tree, the forest of the future, and planted outside their normal range. As many times future generations tried to erradicate them. I wish we could learn from mistakes of the past instead of trying to repeat them.

If you have an opinion about genetically engineered forests and eucalyptus trees specifically, please go to http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main and type in the docket ID to submit or view comments and to view supporting and related materials.  (Docket ID is APHIS-2008-0059)