Park officials in Portland, Texas, are taking action to eliminate a pair of invasive tree species causing substantial damage in the area.
"There's a lot of salt cedar and white lead tree that's taken over out here and is choking out a lot of the native vegetation and wildlife as well," Quinn Hendrick, communications manager for Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, said to KRIS 6 News.
The two tree species have invaded much of the American Southwest since being introduced because they reproduce quickly and kill off native plants through overcrowding. The white lead tree grows in heavy thickets that block sunlight, killing native flora underneath, notes the University of Arizona's Invasive Plants resource.
Meanwhile, the saltcedar secretes salt that can negatively affect the nutrient profile of the soil it grows in, according to UC Riverside's Center for Invasive Species Research. Its root systems can also trap sediment along riverbanks, creating permanent sand bars that can exacerbate flooding.
Eliminating invasive species like these two trees is a crucial aspect of caring for a local ecosystem. Not only do they kill off local plant species, but they throw off the balance of the entire habitat. Herbivores struggle when they lose a valued, native food source, which has a ripple effect up the food chain on their predators and beyond.
The City of Portland is using a thorough, five-stage program in Sunset Park to eliminate the pesky plants over the course of a few days. Their hope is to get local waterways back in fighting form so that native plants will thrive and migratory birds will return in time.
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"Teams are gonna hit the ground out here — they're gonna be removing all the invasive species, these thick stands of salt cedar by hand, so cutting, and mulching them there on spot," Hendrick said.
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