> <i>For more than 200 years, seeds of the eucalyptus tree have been planted beyond the bounds of Australia's coastline.</i><p>> <i>It has been cultivated around the world, making a new home in southern Europe, South America, parts of Africa, the west coast of the United States, and even parts of South-East Asia.</i><p>> <i>But there is now a debate over whether this tree has been worth the industry and habitat it provides.</i><p>I moved to Australia in 1988. Nobody, not one Australian I know has ever said eucalyptus was a sensible export as live wood, or was suitable for planting like this in these countries. I can't work out who did think this was a good idea.<p>So the "now there is a debate" thing is like WTF? The first time I heard about wildfire in Californian eucalyptus there was a pretty strong man-in-the-pub debate about what happened. And that was over a decade ago.
<i>Because the eucalyptus tree loves fire and fire loves it.</i><p>It needs fire to reproduce* and takes over the landscape after a fire, outcompeting many other species. This is not unique to eucalyptus. Some pines also need fire to reproduce and redwoods tend to survive fire better than other trees and thrive in the aftermath.<p>But it sounds like eucalyptus may actively promote fire in a way I haven't heard of other trees doing.<p>* <a href="http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/units/env207/ecology/individual.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/units/env207/ecology/individual....</a>
"Scapegoating" in action.<p>Often lower that it could be expected, because wildfires are just a crime, and to understand crimes you must follow the money.<p>Eucaliptus plantations are --often-- [1] spared in wildfires, because: they have a proprietary (that could know the arsonist), aren't valuable wood to furniture (are useless as cheap smoked wood), resprout soon, and wouldn't be turned into pastures in any case. The arsonist can't benefit economically of it in any way, and could made some undesirable enemies.<p>[1] Often but not always. Last years the traditional reasons have mutated. Criminals had started to target Eucaliptus just for creating chaos or economical damage. As scapegoat to blame them for their own crimes, there is often a previous campaign to paint a target on the tree by ecological reasons and blame Eucaliptus in the media as alien species, etc... not much later, half of Portugal starts burning a Saturday at 3am.
When i want to Argentina just before covid a few years back, i saw some of the biggest eucalyptus tree's I've ever seen.<p>They stood out like sore thumbs, they dont fit the look of the environment but dayum they were HUGE.
It's fascinating how one species can be fit in so many aspects. Fast growing, herbivore resistant and using fire as a weapon to kill off competitors.
Recommended reading if this topic is interesting.<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17573655-trees-in-paradise" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17573655-trees-in-par...</a>
In South Africa Eucalyptus species are responsible for the loss of 16% of the 1,444 million cubic metres of water resources.<p>It completely dries out wetlands. And they also release a chemical into the surrounding soil which kills native competitors.
Everyone hates on Eucalyptus for one reason or the other, but it's my favorite tree, they grow tall relatively fast , provide good enough shade and smell amazing. They also have some medicinal use.<p>If you think about it, a tree that does well in wildfires s a very good thing for climate resillience. Less resillient trees will result in less oxygen production due to wildfires and all trees burn in dry climate.