The Editor

The San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco, CA

To the Editor:

Your recent story, "Final Presidio tree removal plan

OKd" (The Chronicle, October 8) about the possible

destruction of thousands of magnificent Blue Gum

Eucalyptus trees in San Francisco was very depressing.

These trees are a magnificent addition to the

landscapes of coastal California. They have done

yeoman service in many unpleasantly windy areas by

slowing down the unpleasant afternoon summer winds.

The whole phony nativistic restoration ecology

movement is based upon a fantasy of a non-existent

static pre-Columbian notion of what plants and what

animals were here and what we should "allow" to grow

now. Nature is dynamic, not static. The Blue Gums

trees are as native as you and I and the tiny San

Francisco Lessingia and Raven's Manzanita. These

demented "restoration" biologists will not be happy

until the western half of San Francisco is completely

"restored" to great moving sand dunes with no sign of

human habitation or the dreaded Blue Gum trees.

My survey of the literature plus personal observations

have shown that the Blue Gum, Eucalyptus globulus,

have provided useful food, resting, roosting and

living habitat for many species of animals including

about twenty species of insects, several species of

spiders, four amphibians, ten reptiles, three mammals

and over fifty species of birds. Hummingbirds and

Orioles utilize the nectar of winter flowers for food.

Vultures, Hawks, Owls, Woodpeckers and other birds use

the Blue Gum for nesting and roosting purposes. The

Monarch Butterfly has adopted the Blue Gum for its

overwintering roosting and feeding.

Yours truly,

James K. Sayre

8 October 2003