To the Editor,
Re: Island towns battling broom, Letters, May 2.
Scotch broom grows everywhere on the Island and has become a problem.
The plant has no value, grows quickly and nothing eats it. I have always said that if someone found a commercial use for broom bush, they would be a multi-millionaire overnight.
It is apparent that nothing eats it, including bugs and deer. The commercial value to the plant may be tied to this fact. It may be as simple as extracting the oils from the plant and applying it to a wood or another plant as a preservative.
But, we know it will not be that simple.
If the broom problem was put to continual testing and brainstorming at a university level, there may be a profitable outcome.
It could be a medicine, a textile, a fuel or a preservative. This is just another one of those local problems that needs a better solution.
Some day most of us will look back and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Matt James
Nanaimo