Like a lot of people, I like rooting for the underdog.

ItB次元官网网址檚 nice to hear a rags-to-riches story or see the darkhorse player score the winning goal. But whenever I stick up for Scotch broom, I feel like IB次元官网网址檝e become the black sheep.

People are attempting a mass genocide of this plant. I feel they are hopping on the B次元官网网址渒ill the broomB次元官网网址� lynch mob.

Sure itB次元官网网址檚 invasive, but the vast majority of people are invasive. I am from Alberta (and half First Nations, half Swedish), so I too am invasive.

When we build houses and roads, we are taking up space that would have been used by other species native to the land. But as Metchosin environmentalist and councillor Moralea Milne points out, people can be reasoned with, and broom cannot.

For most of my arguments, Milne voices an opposition that trumps my point. If IB次元官网网址檇 say, B次元官网网址渂room is a nitrogen fixer,B次元官网网址� sheB次元官网网址檇 answer, B次元官网网址淲ell thatB次元官网网址檚 a good thing in the garden, but not when other plants have already adapted to the soil.B次元官网网址�

Milne one, Huber zero.

Continuing on, Milne explains that broom shades out other plants, itB次元官网网址檚 drought-resistant and tolerant of the hot sun.

Both of us can agree itB次元官网网址檚 one tough bugger. B次元官网网址淚t doesnB次元官网网址檛 have the predators that would keep it in check,B次元官网网址� Milne says.

She explains the predators itB次元官网网址檚 lacking could be insects or fungus, but I prefer to think of a broom-eating werewolf somewhere in the world.

I picture in my head these brave little seeds travelling across the ocean to escape the wrath of their predator.

But I know they didnB次元官网网址檛 plan a great escape, they were brought here in the coat pocket of a shipB次元官网网址檚 captain more than 150 years ago.

As a journalist I know when those little yellow flowers pop out to say hello, IB次元官网网址檒l be writing about broom eradication. And thatB次元官网网址檚 fine. Many people devote a lot of time to the cause. I respect their enthusiasm.

But for the past couple of years, something has boggled my mind. At good old-fashioned broom pulls, people donB次元官网网址檛 pull the plants out anymore, they just cut them off at the soil, keeping the roots in the ground. IB次元官网网址檝e also talked to groups who cut the plants after the seeds fall each year. The seeds can stay dormant for decades. In my mind thatB次元官网网址檚 similar to putting a bed sheet over an elephant and saying the problem is gone.

Once again Milne steps up to bat and hits a homer out of the park.

B次元官网网址淲hen you pull a plant out you are turning up the soil as you pull, that brings the seed bank up to ideal growing conditions,B次元官网网址� she says, explaining if you cut a broom plant with a thick stem at the soil, most likely it wonB次元官网网址檛 grow back.

I enjoy vegetable gardening in the spring and summer. IB次元官网网址檝e even dabbled a little in winter gardening, too. I have a hard time pulling weeds in my plot and think to myself, B次元官网网址榃ho I am I to remove this weed?B次元官网网址� Often I let them stay.

While I have compassion for broom, MilneB次元官网网址檚 points are hard to ignore.

B次元官网网址淭he broom plant might be where 100 other plants once were. Those different plants could be in bloom all year long,B次元官网网址� Milne says.

She continues her argument by stating many insects would eat those 100 plants. The insects would be eaten by other bugs, and so on.

B次元官网网址淵ou donB次元官网网址檛 want to look at just one tree or one plant, you have to look at the ecosystem.B次元官网网址�

When I state that broom has a right to exist, Milne replies, B次元官网网址淭hen you are sacrificing hundreds and thousands of species for one.B次元官网网址�

The one thing Milne and I can agree on is that itB次元官网网址檚 not the broomB次元官网网址檚 fault itB次元官网网址檚 here B次元官网网址� broom is getting punished due to other peopleB次元官网网址檚 actions.

Charla Huber is a reporter for the Goldstream B次元官网网址 Gazette.

reporter@goldstreamgazette.com