Tackling exotic flora in the Teno Rural Park

Not for the first time, the Tenerife Island Corporation is undertaking a project in the Teno Rural Park to try to get the "exotic" species of invasive plants under control.

There was also a report recently that the regional government it to bring in measures to penalize owners of exotic plants and animals, which are threatening the islands' native species and doing environmental damage in the archipelago.

What has never been clear (to me anyway) is what constitutes an unwanted "illegal alien" in the plant world. This press release about this years eradication campaign names some of those species and, there are a few surprises amongst them.

The twelve month plan, which will cost the Cabildo almost 85,000 Euros, is targeting "exotic flora" such as Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum), Sticky Snakeroot (Ageratina adenophora), Prickly pears (opuntia sp) and Gorse (ulex parviflorus).

The cactus, or prickly pears, had, I thought, been originally introduced as a cash crop. There is white gorse (pictured above) in the El Palmar Valley, but on the way to Teno Alto in spring, the roadsides are absolutely lined with pretty yellow gorse and damaging it may be, but it also makes this one of the best times to visit.

However, the environmental folk say that it's necessary to remove these invasive plants, because they are competing with native species in the most valuable areas of the park, which are distributed amongst various areas of the Teno Rural Park in the valleys of Santiago del Teide, El Palmar, the Teno Plateau, Punta de Teno and in Masca, Erjos and the mountain areas of Bolico and the Monte de Agua.

They don't intend to take prisoners either: The elimination of the exotic flora, says the report, will consist of first manually pulling them up by the roots, then burning them. The soil will also be cleaned to attempt to remove any remaining seeds.

The Teno Rural Park does have areas of very high natural value with a variety of important ecosystems, among them the laurisilva (cloud forest) and the remains of ancient woodlands in the area of the Monte del Agua that must be protected.

El Cabildo ejecutará un proyecto de control de flora exótica en el Parque Rural de Teno