How Eucalyptus Got Here, and Why It Burns

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Depending on whom you ask, eucalyptus trees are either an icon in California or a fire-prone scourge. In today's episode, reporter Daniel Potter takes us on a journey through how this non-native tree came to the state. We'll learn why it was planted in such large numbers in the first place. Then we explore why some Eucalyptus groves have become a concerning wildfire threat. Additional Reading: Eucalyptus: How California's Most Hated Tree Took Root Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Daniel Potter. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Joshua Ling, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED.
0:02.0	Do you see any ko-a-bears?
0:07.0	I wish.
0:12.0	Should we tell people where we are? Yeah, so we are at the Mount
0:16.4	Central Open Space Reserve, which is basically like, got to be pretty close to
0:20.8	the geographic center of San Francisco, would imagine right I think that's fair and we are
0:26.3	surrounded by a ton of what looked to be ancient eucalyptus trees if you're not familiar with eucalyptus trees. If you're not familiar with eucalyptus trees, they're very
0:35.1	tall. I mean, how tall would you say those are? We've seen some today over a hundred feet for
0:39.3	sure. Definitely. And they have this weird bark where the under part of the tree is really smooth
0:46.1	but their bark on the outside flakes off.
0:48.8	It's deciduous but it leaves this tan almost naked looking trunk behind.
0:54.0	And these would not be good climbing trees.
0:56.0	Yeah, most of the branches, like,
0:58.0	what's the lowest branch on that one?
1:00.0	It's like 30 feet up.
1:01.0	How are you going to climb that?
1:03.0	Yeah. One thing I think a lot of people remark about eucalyptus trees is the smell.
1:07.0	Some people hate it, but a couple people I talk to for this story.
1:14.0	They say these trees just smell like California.
1:18.0	Which is pretty weird for a tree from Australia.
1:22.0	I'm Olivia on Price and this is Bay Curious
1:26.2	where we answer your questions about the Bay Area. On this episode, science writer
	...

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