Havens was an enthusiast for planting eucalyptus trees in the Bay Area . Between 1910 and 1914 , his Mahogany Eucalyptus and Land Company had planted nearly three million Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus and Monterey pine seedlings on 3,000 acres in the East Bay . The scheme was supposed to make Havens a fortune , but although eucalyptus grew quickly it made poor lumber . Havens soon shutdown the sawmills and nurseries , but the eucalyptus and pine groves remain . Native animals ( particularly the migratory monarch butterfly ) have learned to live in the eucalyptus , but it is also a fire hazard , and was implicated in the 1991 East Bay firestorm
1991 East Bay firestorm
Oakland firestorm of 1991
Frank C. Havens