Native plants play an important role in living
sustainably. They furnish habitat,
create shade, improve the soil and provide edible and craft materials. To put it simply, California natives are remarkable
additions to the garden ecosystem. But it’s important to remember that these
plants are also critical components of natural ecosystems.
The increased interest in edible and medicinal native plants
creates several unintended consequences.
Most important is the overuse of natural stands of native plants growing
in the wild. This is not just a problem
in California; over-collecting of native plants is a critical issue world-wide,
leading to the extinction of entire plant species.
While some California native plants are still common, others
are rare – even endangered - in the wild.
Humans have played a key role, primarily by destroying habitat (building
houses, roads, etc.). Global climate
change is putting further pressures on wild plants and animal populations.
To stress wild populations further by wild foraging is
unsound. In fact, there are legal,
health/safety, practical and ethical/stewardship reasons to limit wildland
foraging. For more see: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2016/06/sustainable-living-foraging-for-native.html
