If trees were meant to grow on Crookes Point, they'd be there


    I am writing concerning the planned planting of trees on Crookes Point. It is an ecologically damaging plan. The natural vegetation growing there is the sustainable vegetation that thrives in sandy soil and windy conditions.

    There are some non-native, invasive vines such as bittersweet which could be controlled. Using herbicides will probably cause pollution of the water and fish kill since the porosity of the soil will leach the chemicals into the water very quickly.

    It is amazing to me that the National Park Service plans this ecological mistake which could cause great harm to the environment as well as the wildlife that depends on Crookes Point as a habitat or migratory stopping place.

    Public parks are not supposed to use herbicides as I understand it. Planting trees in unsuitable soil is a wrong decision. If trees were meant to grow at Crookes Point, there would be trees growing there already.

    The million trees project is a fine idea; planting them in the wrong place is not.
[The writer is a master gardener as certified by the University of Connecticut and a member of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods.]