Editor:
Peter Light is blowing smoke when he defends invasive species like Scotch broom and Japanese knotweed (Bio-invasion, Aug. 18). He has to go back to 1931 to find “39 uses” for Scotch broom when not even sheep will eat it in Scotland. What broom is really good for is fuelling fires, given its oily seeds and brittle stocks, not what we want on the Sunshine Coast during our long hot summers.
Mr. Light refers to a 1991 study to defend Japanese knotweed but he might take a quick trip to Henderson Creek near Bonniebrook and talk to the locals who have been trying to combat the knotweed invasion of that riparian area for several years now. Or he could travel the 101 from the corner of Henry Road all the way up to Pender Harbour to view knotweed encroaching along the ditches (have a good look at the east bank at Clack Creek by Cliff Gilker Park).
Mr. Light might even go online to visit some U.K. sites which bear witness to the destruction of property and property values suffered by residents as knotweed has taken over their homes and gardens. But closer to home, Mr. Light might have attended an up-to-date information workshop conducted by Jennifer Grenz on June 22 in the SIB Hall to dig the latest dirt on knotweed.
Perhaps the most serious error Mr. Light makes is to lump all invasives into the same basket. Reed grasses do not equate to Japanese knotweed in the aggressiveness of their spread and the damage they can do. This is a false equivalency, like lumping peaceniks in with Neo-Nazis. It’s like calling both aspirin and fentanyl pain-relievers. In this respect, Mr. Light’s over-generalized and under-documented opinion is pernicious.
Mary Beth Knechtel, Halfmoon Bay
