03/29/2022
Thereās a less-than-enticing smell wafting around North Carolina right now. Old fish š to some, cat urine š¼ to others, the Bradford pear has plenty of olfactory descriptorsānone of them pleasant.
Turns out, thatās not the only reason to hate on the Bradford pear tree. The non-native ornamental tree initially planted for its showy early spring flowers can produce offspring, called Callery pears. This next generation of trees not only stink but have thorns sharp enough to puncture a tractor-trailer tire, according to NC State University invasive plant researchers.
And these offspring are really terrible at supporting a wide variety of insects, so when birds build nests in them, they start their family in the tree equivalent of a food desert without any caterpillars at the ready to feast on.
āIt's really the invasiveness that has caused such a problem,ā said Elizabeth Oten, an NCSU forestry expert. "They're displacing our native species."
States like South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Ohio have banned the planting and sales of new Bradford pear trees. NC doesnāt have that ban, but Oten and other NCSU researchers started a bounty program to bring down the Bradford pear.
The bounty program offers people a free native tree in exchange for documented proof they axed (or chainsawed) these pungent trees. Replanting is necessary to keep the stateās tree canopy vibrant, especially important as the effects of climate change set in.
Interest in the first event, scheduled for Greensboro in April, was so high that the 200 slots for new trees were filled up within 24 hours. Oten said there will be future bouty exchanges in other parts of the state, so keep updated at https://www.treebountync.com/.
āš» : Sarah Ovaska