I recently had the chance to go to the first Ventura Sierra Club Educational Speaker meeting. The guest speaker for the day was Nicole Norelli she is from USCB; in the Maine Science Institute (MSI). She came to inform us about a plant called Tamarisk.

From what I learned, Tamarisk grows wherever they like and they grow together in dense patches. These plants also take up so much water that any plant near them would die; due to lack of water. They are also very flammable which means wildfire hazard. Even if the Tamarisk were to burn they grow right back from where they last stood. They are not native to California which means there’s no need to have them. “The government have spent millions of dollars to cut down and bulldoze the Tamarisk; only to have it grow back.” Miss Norelli has stated. The government still spend so much to deal with the Tamarisk.

The most efficient Biocontrol method to reduce the Tamarisk population are the Tamarisk Beetles. It has been tested that the beetle will only eat the Tamarisk plant. That is good news for the farmers and their crops. These beetles eat day and night; which means we as the people don’t have to do anything. Just leave the beetles to do their natural instinct. “Tamarisk Beetles won’t eliminate the Tamarisk plant in one day. There will be some around in small patches, but they could be kept under control.” (Nicole Norelli).

For me going to the meeting I found it to be an eye opener. As in to be more aware of the issues in the environment; it’s not just trash on the floor and to reduce the amount of plastic we use. Sadly the audience was very small; not enough of the younger people. Most were the older and wiser generation; which there’s nothing wrong with that. We need more of the youthful faces to attend to these small meetings. After all we are the future of the world.

Written by: Sam Marin, an English student at Oxnard College.