Save state's adopted trees

THE MAJESTIC eucalyptus tree was brought into Southern California by citrus grove owners seeking a wood source, and when that didn't pan out, as windbreaks from gale-force Santa Anas. Since then they've become standard on local golf courses, along freeways, in schoolyards and backyards.

Plein-air art schools in Pasadena and in particular along the Arroyo Seco made the picturesque trees their favorite subject. Some were named the eucalyptus school of painters, showing the great outdoors of Southern California at the turn of the century.

Great blue herons and black- crowned night herons of Bonelli Park in San Dimas call the tall trees home.

While purists say they are nonnative and therefore, don't belong, that's not the point. Aside from the uses already mentioned, they are shade-givers, carbon dioxide eaters and a wonder to behold. They have become part of the California landscape for the last century and they ought to be protected from further harm or certain extinction.

Up until four years ago, the tree had escaped natural predators. Then in 1998, botanists discovered a eucalyptus along the San Bernardino (10) Freeway in El Monte infested with the red gum lerp psyllid, a parasite that sucks the life out of the trees. By starting with the leaves, they drain the sap and leave the trees too stressed to withstand other attacks.

Already the Pacific Palms Conference Resort in Industry lost 25 percent of its eucalyptus trees. Many are dying at The Arboretum of Los Angeles County in Arcadia.

California EPA, Food and Agriculture, the county Department of Agriculture and entities in Northern California, where the lerp psyllid is threatening eucalyptus trees, including Stanford University, should work together at finding a way to fight this parasite.

We encourage federal and state leaders to apply for grant dollars to expand research and biological treatment protocols. Already UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources has been successfully treating other plant parasites through the release of natural predators.

These adopted trees are part of California's heritage and while they have their drawbacks, they are undoubtedly worth saving.