Belmead was 50 or 100 years past its prime. The parking lot could hold hundreds of cars,
Belmead Mansion
but it looked like ours were the only ones it had seen in years. The mansion was proud, but showed its age through its stained walls and worn windows. We were here to kill an invasive species called tree of heaven. When it grows, tree of heaven releases a chemical from its roots that inhibits the growth of other plants around it. We methodically killed these plants with pesticide so that the ones we preferred could live.
Tree of Heaven, native to China
Killing trees of heaven at Belmead felt wrong. Even knowing that it would increase diversity in the riparian zone along the James. Even knowing that the plant is an “invasive” that’s too good at propagating to be left alone. Even knowing that we were making the James better, killing for the sake of life seemed strange. Not in the sense that every living thing is sacred and priceless, because every choice of preference proves it’s not. Rather, in the sense of “who are we to choose one species over another?” Humans already have an oversized role in influencing the biosphere; why can’t we step back and let nature done as it has for millions of years before we started moving game pieces in the first place?
We can’t because to step back would be to ignore our oversized impact on the biota of this earth. Humans have long since passed the point where we can stop interfering with earth’s natural development. We’ve already thousands of species to endangerment and extinction; to limit our interference where we may actually be able to increase biodiversity seems irresponsible. The question now is how best to interfere while holding both biodiversity and human preeminence in the balance.