Controlling Invasive Exotics: A Tallow Tree Replacement Program Campaign in Florida

Abstract

The experiences of a community group in Florida that sponsored a campaign to curb local expansion of Sapium sebiferum (tallow tree), an invasive exotic tree, may be useful for other exotic species control programs. Success of the tallow replacement program was due, in part, to a partnership formed with the nursery industry. Convincing the public that not all trees are environmentally beneficial and enlisting public participation in the campaign were major challenges. Assistance came in the unexpected form of several vitriolic letters to the editor of the local newspaper in which the sponsors of the program were condemned for believing that they had the right to determine the fate of a tree, even an invasive exotic. The published exchange of letters was beneficial insofar as it kept the issue of exotics prominently in the public eye.