Does the Conservancy have a plan to get rid of all non-native plants on the Island?
No. Besides not having jurisdiction over portions of the Island it doesn’t steward, the Conservancy could not get rid of all the non-native plants on the Island if it wanted to; there are too many with too wide a range to eradicate. What the Conservancy has done is to map non-native plants and to rank them, with the most highly invasive and easiest to eradicate or control being at the top of the list. Left to their own devices, highly invasive non-native plants, which pose a threat to wildlife by pushing out native plants they depend upon, would dominate the Island, including killing off the native plant communities that make Catalina unique. The Eucalyptus trees found along Old Stagecoach road are non-native, but are not highly invasive, and because of this and theirplace in the cultural heritage of the Island, are not targeted for replacement except when they die of natural causes.
