The Great Cactus War

Griffin Bay Bookstore & The San Juan Island Library Present The Great Cactus War by Terry Domico

If you’ve read any of Terry Domico’s books or magazine articles, you know that he has a great knack for writing about natural history—describing landscapes, ecosystems, the flora and fauna that inhabit them. His book, Natural Areas of the San Juan Islands, continues to inform islanders and visitors about our distinctive ecosystems. On Friday, September 7, at 7:00 pm, Griffin Bay Bookstore and the San Juan Island Library are hosting Terry at the Library for the launching of his latest foray into nature: The Great Cactus War.

The Great Cactus War is the culmination of more than seven years of research, and it is the true account of the greatest plant invasion in human history. . . a story published in book-form for the first time.

Imagine a sea of prickly-pear cactus up to thirty feet high that covers a region larger than Italy and is spreading at the alarming rate of more than one million acres a year. Thousands of people are being driven out of their homes and off the land. Roads and entire villages are being obliterated as the unstoppable growth advances across the landscape. Digging, burning, chopping, and poisoning the “green monster” is having little real effect on the front line. The government is desperate to find a solution – and even posts a reward worth millions of dollars – but all of its efforts are ending in failure.

This was the hopeless scene that many Australians were faced with during the first quarter of the 20th century. Then, in the mid-1920s, a group of self-taught scientists discovered a little moth in Argentina whose larvae literally ate the “pear” into submission. Within a decade, Australia’s prickly-pear cactus scourge was just a bad memory.

Rural Australia was thus saved. But now Australia’s insect hero may be poised to create a terrible plague of its own that could completely disrupt our desert ecosystems here in the USA. Millions of dollars have already been spent in a concerted effort to stop it. But will Science and Technology actually be able to win this new cactus war?

Come and hear Terry Domico talk about this incredible story and find out what the new cactus war is all about. He’ll also be showing a 12-minute-long historic movie made in 1933, the only film ever made that depicts the Great Cactus War. 

Terry Domico – Contributed photo

About the Author
Terry Domico is a lifelong naturalist and retired conservation biologist. He is the author of the internationally acclaimed book, Bears of the World, and Kangaroos: The Marvelous Mob; The Last Thylacine; Natural Areas of the San Juan Islands; and Wild Harvest: Wild Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest. He was photographer for The Nature of Borneo.

Terry’s published work has received numerous awards, including the coveted Washington Governor’s Writers Award, a Sigma Delta Chi award for “Excellence in Journalism,” and first place in the World Photography Contest 1983. His articles and photographs have appeared in Smithsonian, Natural History, and in publications of the National Geographic Society.

When not traveling for research, Terry divides his time between Washington State’s San Juan Islands and Port Stephens, New South Wales, Australia.

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