MUNCIE — Minnetrista, whose museum
campus is home to a community of native plant and animal species, is
also the home of some invasive pear trees "that have 'walked' here,
possibly from nearby neighborhoods," horticulture specialist Lindsey Cox
said, speaking figuratively.
"To
treat them, we would mechanically cut them down, then use glyphosate
(herbicide) on the freshly cut stump," she told The Star Press.
"However, due to short staff, it may not happen soon enough."
Minnetrista
isn't alone in being slow to address an invasive species from Asia that
is not as well known as the emerald ash borer or brown marmorated stink
bug but is gaining in notoriety: the Bradford pear tree and other
ornamental pear varieties, currently lighting up Muncie streets, yards
and the Ball State University campus with their white flowers.
The
city of Muncie isn't removing Bradford pear trees, also known
as Callery pear, New Bradford, Cleveland select, autumn blaze,
Aristocrat, capitol, Chanticleer, and dozens more from its rights of way
for the same reason as Minnetrista.
"We're
focusing on dead and hazardous trees right now," said Muncie's urban
forester, Kellie McClellan, referring to native trees like ash, hundreds
of millions of which have been killed in North America by emerald ash
borer — an exotic beetle native to Asia. "We still have a few hundred
ash trees we are removing. We have 11,000 trees on city property."
Another
reason the city isn't focused on removing the ornamental pear trees,
McClellan said, is because "even if we cut them down, there are so many
on private property that we wouldn't impact it at all. We are educating
people. This time of year, when they're blooming, everyone thinks
they're so beautiful, but it's not a good idea to buy one for
themselves."