Ecological Consequences of Clearing Native Vegetation
Damaging native plants begins a chain reaction of negative consequences.
Alternatives to Clearing: Allocating Wilderness Areas
Clearing is often motivated by concerns about snake, packrat, coyote, mountain lion and javelina habitat. A solution to safety concerns is to designate an inner patio in your yard and still protect and encourage native desert on the remainder of your property. All of these animals play a crucial role in this ecology, ingesting and spreading seeds, turning soils, and keeping other animal populations in balance.
The desert can be perceived as a landscape of hostile plants and animals. Desert shrubs are routinely misunderstood as a fire hazard to homes. Plants are removed or severely cut back to increase visibility of hazardous snakes and insects. Plants appearing messy or dead are subject to crews of landscapers applying a standardized template to gardening that is incompatible with the Sonoran ecosystem. They often have little knowledge or ability to recognize native species or understand their dormant cycles.
When desert vegetation is removed, the ecosystem is compromised dramatically. Clearing or selectively removing vegetation can trigger a chain reaction of unintended consequences:
Permanent Loss of an Ecosystem
Native plant communities take centuries to develop. They cannot regenerate easily. Removal causes:
- Loss of animal and insect habitat. Complex relationships between plants, animals, insects… butterflies, bees, birds, whitetail deer, bobcats, desert toads… all depending on native vegetation to survive and raise their young. Removing native vegetation removes wildlife habitat.
- Loss of native biodiversity in a region. Many plants only grow in very specific areas. Once those species are removed they might not naturally exist in adjacent areas.
- Loss of resilience. The Sonoran vegetation has adapted over thousands of years to this particular climate. Not only are these plants adapted to the insects and animals of this region with inbuilt natural defenses, they are also adapted to our annual rainfall. Native vegetation gets exactly the right amount of water without any human intervention.
Soil Disturbance
Native plants stabilize soil and protect it from heat and erosion. When native plants are removed:
- Soil temperatures rise, harming underground root systems
- Rainwater runs instead of being absorbed into the ground, causing erosion
- Soil-laden runoff degrades water quality downstream
- Soil microbiology is disrupted
- Native seeds struggle to germinate
Herbicides and the Roundup Cycle
To control ‘weeds’ and maintain a cleared understory, many properties begin repeated spraying of herbicides, which can create several problems in residential desert areas:
- Herbicide drift can expose people, pets, and wildlife to probable carcinogens.
- Soil microorganisms that support native plants are damaged.
- When broad herbicides are sprayed indiscriminately on desert soil, native seedlings—including young saguaros—are eliminated before they can establish. Because desert plants typically grow slowly, the loss of even one generation may mean no succession plants return for decades or centuries. Mature plants will continue to survive until they die from other stresses (like exposed soils), but there will be nothing to replace them.
- Unless they are frequently maintained, barren areas invite invasive weeds. Keeping and encouraging native desert is your most effective protection against weeds.
- Repeated spraying year after year is an ongoing maintenance cost.
Invasive Plants and Wildfire Risk
Invasive species quickly colonize disturbed areas with compromised soils, where their only competitors are slow-growing natives. Buffelgrass and Fountain Grass are so rigorous that they are able to colonize spaces between plants in a fully intact desert. Within a few years, they can crowd out natives and form dense carpets. Removing native plants invites invasive plants in.
Invasive plants:
- Outcompete slow-growing natives, with or without the help of fire.
- Turn a fire-resistant desert ecosystem into a non-native, fire-prone landscape.
- Become a major cause of wildfire in both inhabited communities and wildlands. Because they are fire adapted, they carry wildfire and are highly combustible.