DANGEROUS INTRUDER AT HORTON PLAINS
A destructive alien plant identified as Ulex Eropaeus by botanists has been spreading fast in the Norton Plains in Nuwara Eliya to the concern of environmentalists and also tourists who pointed out that the plant had spread widely destroying endemic plants and wild life.
The Nuwara Eliya Government Agent D.P.G.Kumarasiri who visited the Horton Plains and inspected the affected areas of the forest reserve said that the noxious Ulex Eropaeus had caused extensive environmental damage to the bio-diversity unique of the Horton Plains. He said the plant had been introduced in 1900 by an Englishman, Thomas Farin, who planted it around the stables to feed his horses.
Park Warden Piyal Ravindra told the GA that the security forces and several other state institutions launched programmes to remove the destructive plant but to no avail. He said the plant was now spreading on the banks of Lake Gregory and around the racecourse and that the area along the access road to World’s End was the worst affected. Botanists said it was difficult to remove the deep rooted thorny bushes manually, but the use of chemicals would cause more serious damage to fauna and flora in the highly sensitive environmental zone.
The GA said the damage caused to Horton Plains which was the main tourist attraction in the Nuwara Eliya District should be considered as a disaster and that a long term programme should be implemented with the help of the Disaster Management Centre to protect the plains. He said he expected the participation of the security forces, schoolchildren, environmentalists and civil society organisations.