Review: Unnatural
Landscapes: Tracking Invasive Species
By
Ceiridwen Terrill
Reviewed
by Lochlanina Tobey
Hood College, Frederick, MD
Ceiridwen Terrill. Unnatural Landscapes: Tracking
Invasive Species, Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2007. 240 pp.
ISBN: 0-8165-2523-4. US $17.95. Soft cover, acid-free paper, black and white
illustrations, indexed.
The
domesticated cat has gone feral and threatens the delicate ecological balance
of the Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez. It is one of many invasive exotic
species set loose by humanity. We humans are like Pandora with a box full of
organisms we simply cannot seem to resist unleashing on unprepared natural
habitats. In an age of global commerce the introduction of exotic life forms
occurs with a rapidity that the environment is unable to absorb and the
precarious balances tend toward the extinction of endemic populations. With
compassionate clarity and amazingly unfailing optimism, Ceiridwen
Terrill recounts her experiences with the native and invasive species of four
selected island ecosystems in a book that itself is a delicate balance
somewhere between an action adventure story, a poetic narrative, and a lively
scientific field journal. Her goal, which she accomplishes rather well, is to
educate her reader. The educated human, aware of our culpability in this
ecological damage, is less likely to perpetuate the mistakes that lead to
landscapes dominated by bioinvasives.
There
is a straight-forwardness about Terrill's writing style, which disarms the
reader. Perhaps it is because she does not wail and scream about unfairness;
she simply tells us what she saw, what has happened to the native species, what
is taking their place, and what is, or is not, being done about it. In
revealing her experiences it is almost as though Terrill has created a
documentary film, rather than written a book; the readers feel they might be
standing beside her watching the scene in real time. Interspersed with the
details of her journey (often by kayak) are conversations with scientists,
naturalists, and other travelers, so that by the time she reaches the native
White Pelicans on Anaho Island, or the 150 year-old
alien Eucalyptus groves at Scorpion Canyon Campground on Santa Cruz Island, the
reader reaches the scene with her, well-versed in the history, geography, and
lore of the area, ready to hear about the flora and fauna, and able to grasp
the repercussions of careless ignorance, a lack of funding, or an imprudent
building project.
Many
non-native plants that now threaten endemic populations are accidental
introductions such as the menacing Cheetgrass (Bromus tectorum) discussed in
chapter 1 ("Not Only For the Birds"), and the Black Rat (Rattus rattus) whose partial
eradication on the Channel Islands she rationalizes in chapter 4 ("The
Pied Pipers of Anacapa"). On the other hand,
many of the now invasive exotics detailed in Terrill's book, were intentionally
established -- easy "solutions" -- like the smothering
low-maintenance Crystal Iceplant (Mesembryanthemum
crystallinium), which is still being planted to
control erosion along California highways. Take the case of the Mosquito Fish,
currently provided for free by several state agencies to combat West Nile
virus. It seems these foreigners actually eat more native fish eggs than
mosquito larvae, unlike the (mosquito-eating) native, and we might add
threatened, pupfish. The compelling story of the pupfish, detailed in chapter 2
("Pister's Pupfish") expands the idea of an
island by focusing our attention on "reverse islands," the fragile
ecosystems of Fish Slough and Ash Meadows, Nevada. Terrill also looks seriously
at some of the underlying problems inherent in our current management systems,
or lack thereof. One gets the impression that she is politically neutral, if a
bit melancholy, in the way that she carefully includes both sides of each
story.
Terrill
quotes Erika Zavaleta about the Tamarask,
but it might be any of the scientists speaking about any of the invasive
species detailed in the book, "When faced with a decision either to spend
billions of dollars in control or to tolerate tens of billions of dollars in
continued damage by the invader, one is reminded that both costly choices could
have been prevented - and could be prevented in the future - by decisions to
prevent introductions at an earlier stage" (p.87). One of the recurring
themes of the book is prevention; we are dealing with the cost and consequences
of human actions and only human action can curtail further contaminations.
Island
habitats are both more irreplaceable and more unfrequented than other
locations, making them perfect laboratories for attempts to eradicate invasive
species. A return to pre-conquistador ecology may be impossible but we need to
tip the scales back in favor of our natural species across the continent.
Genuinely certain that people want to help if they only understood the reasons,
this book is a testament to Terrill's commitment to pleasantly re-educate the
public about our environment -- to explain the reasons. One could wish that
someone would undertake to write so well about each regional microcosm, as
Terrill has written about these four island habitats.
Lochlanina Tobey <llt4@hood.edu>
Graduate Student, Hood College, Frederick, MD; 38 East Middle St. #3,
Gettysburg, PA 17325, voice, (717) 338-9051.
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Electronic Green Journal, Issue 25,
2007
ISSN: 1076-7975