At least three states have banned these trees outright, and others discourage the public from adding them to their yards.
Local conservationists will cheer if Kansas moves forward with a ban on selling popular but invasive ornamental pear trees in the state.
The Kansas Department of Agriculture wants to curb the spread of Callery pear trees — a species usually sold under cultivar names such as Bradford, Cleveland Select, Chanticleer and many more.
Its proposal will get a public hearing on Jan. 24 in Manhattan.
Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina have already adopted bans, NBC reported last year. And public agencies and university extension departments in other states, such as Oklahoma and Minnesota, discourage people from planting the species.
Callery pears have been popular for decades because of their white flowers in spring and their red foliage in fall.
But they’re escaping cities and suburbs and spreading into prairies and woods, where they have few predators and so outcompete native plants.
Entomologists such as Douglas Tallamy have increasingly appealed to the public to avoid Callery pears and certain other nonnative species that undercut the food web for insects and birds.
A native goldenrod or wild plum can feed scores of caterpillar species, they point out, while a nonnative Callery pear cannot.
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Categories: Kansas, General