Re: Willows for Bank Erosion Prevention
Trevor Nottle wrote:
> Here in Australia thousands of Weeping Willows (Salix babylonica I
> think it still is) are being ripped out of river and stream banks as
> 'weeds'. It is claimed that their leaves pollute the water and are an
> environmental disaster. I am skeptical myself and suspect a strong
> input from the politically correct - again. It suits the pollies.
> (Politicians) It takes public focus away from their complete failure
> to deleiver effective employment strategies, to address the issues of
> homelessness, drug abuse and addiction,
Since riverbanks are their native habitat, it is hard to believe that
their leaves pollute the water. On the other hand, if S. babylonica is
not native to Australia, they could conceivably cause other problems -
such as crowding out trees that are native to AUstralian riverbanks. We
have such problems in the USA. In Florida, there is some AUstralian
shrub (I can't remember the name) that is doing so well, it totallly
taking over vast areas, crowding out the native species, thus leaving
the native birds high and dry, as they no longer have the the use of the
flora they are adapted to. Similarly, some australian eucalyptus are so
well adapted to California, that they have become "native" - except that
some species apparently kill a lot of native birds, which are not
adapted to the sticky flowers, and get gunk on their bills, causing them
to starve to death. I'd rather have songbirds (which are fast
disappearing from the US for other reasons) than eucaplytus.
On another note (and mea culpa in advance for going way off topic)- some
of us americans would not have realized that the aussies had problems
with homelessness. We have the image of the australian government being
a lot more people friendly than the US in recent years, social programs
for the poor and with a thriving economy - sort of like the NOrway of
the southern hemishpere- all myth?.
