Eucalyptus Trees: An Unappreciated Threat

Editor,

For years the Castro Valley Forum has been publishing my letters asking for help in convincing our elected politicians and appointed authorities that Eucalyptus trees are deadly threats and that they should be removed. Nothing visible has happened except that the trees have gotten bigger.

Three years ago The Forum published my letter to the editor regarding the miracle that nobody was killed or injured when one of these monsters fell across busy Heyer Avenue. In the same issue The Forum reported …“toppled more than a dozen tall eucalyptus trees near Heyer”...

Recently two more have fallen next to the same creek, this time on houses. Again, miraculously, only one person was injured and no one was killed. And at least four of these have lately fallen into (what is still on maps as) Cull Canyon Reservoir. It’s noteworthy that if one falls the other way it could block Cull Canyon Road and perhaps crush cars that queue up for students leaving Canyon Middle School.

All of these fallen giants were growing next to a creek. Considering the climate where these exotics are from, it seems reasonable that they wouldn’t do well resisting high winds in USGS liquefaction zones*, especially when the soil is saturated.

So again, I urge Castro Valley voters to contact their elected representatives and press for the removal of these ticking time bombs. A toddler was killed in Occidental by a tree that came down in a recent storm. Hopefully something will be done about our non-native giants before a local person is killed.

–Richard Cox, Castro Valley