240-Year-Old Elm Tree Gets The Axe Deconstructing The News:
YARMOUTH, Maine — The massive elm tree that shaded the corner of East Main Street and Yankee Drive was sick. Like so many others in so many of America’s towns in the 1950s, it was stricken with Dutch elm disease.
Tree warden Frank Knight was so smitten with the tree that he couldn’t bear to cut it down. After all, it had been standing sentinel in this New England village since before the American Revolution.
Over the next half-century, Knight carefully nursed the tree, spraying for pests and pruning away the dreaded fungus, even as the town’s other elms died by the dozens. As he succeeded, the stately tree’s branches reached 110 feet skyward, its leaves rustling in summer breezes off the Royal River and its heavy limbs shouldering winter snowfalls.
The tree, nicknamed Herbie and acclaimed as the tallest and oldest elm in New England, survived 14 bouts of Dutch elm disease in all, thanks to Knight’s devotion.
Now the disease ravages again and Herbie is too weak to fight back. Knight, now 101, said there’s nothing else he can do to save the tree he’s watched over for five decades.
Showing posts with label Dutch elm disease. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dutch elm disease. Show all posts
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Passionate about saving American elms; Portland, OR
Passionate about saving American elms Portland News - – OregonLive.com:
A virulent fungus has been slowly killing the city's majestic American elms.
But careful pruning and tree inoculations by citizens groups and urban foresters during the past decade have kept losses to an acceptable number, says city arborist Rob Crouch.
'We've slowed the spread to about 30 trees a year, which is a reasonable rate for a city this size,' Crouch says. 'We may lose all of the elms eventually, but with the numbers on private and public land, it could take about 100 years for all of them to disappear.'
A virulent fungus has been slowly killing the city's majestic American elms.
But careful pruning and tree inoculations by citizens groups and urban foresters during the past decade have kept losses to an acceptable number, says city arborist Rob Crouch.
'We've slowed the spread to about 30 trees a year, which is a reasonable rate for a city this size,' Crouch says. 'We may lose all of the elms eventually, but with the numbers on private and public land, it could take about 100 years for all of them to disappear.'
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Stimulus grant to help Kalispell combat elm disease; Kalispell, MT
Grant to help Kalispell combat elm disease:
Kalispell's urban forestry battle against Dutch elm disease is getting a boost from federal stimulus money.
The city is known for its lush canopy of deciduous trees lining its public streets.
But with an inventory of 369 American elm trees on the public right-of-way - 38 that already have been cut down and 40 more identified as dead and hazardous because they are infected with Dutch elm disease - there's a real risk of losing a substantial portion of that canopy. The disease is a fungus that can spread quickly if unchecked.
So when the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation offered $325,000 to cities to conduct innovative community tree projects, the city of Kalispell applied for and won a big chunk of it: $93,500.
Kalispell's urban forestry battle against Dutch elm disease is getting a boost from federal stimulus money.
The city is known for its lush canopy of deciduous trees lining its public streets.
But with an inventory of 369 American elm trees on the public right-of-way - 38 that already have been cut down and 40 more identified as dead and hazardous because they are infected with Dutch elm disease - there's a real risk of losing a substantial portion of that canopy. The disease is a fungus that can spread quickly if unchecked.
So when the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation offered $325,000 to cities to conduct innovative community tree projects, the city of Kalispell applied for and won a big chunk of it: $93,500.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Tree warden helps the elm rise again; Stamford, CT
Tree warden helps the elm rise again - The Connecticut Post Online
Stamford has many trees, so few people would notice that the elm is missing.
It's a mighty tree that grows more than 80 feet tall with a 60-foot canopy, and lives 200 to 300 years.
Its history is as impressive as its measurements.
An elm was the first tree planted to shade a town square in what would become the United States. The colonists who planted it in Boston in 1646 named it the liberty tree. A century later, they met beneath it to plan how to fight British rule. It became such a symbol of resistance that, when the Revolutionary War began in 1775, the British chopped it down.
Stamford has many trees, so few people would notice that the elm is missing.
It's a mighty tree that grows more than 80 feet tall with a 60-foot canopy, and lives 200 to 300 years.
Its history is as impressive as its measurements.
An elm was the first tree planted to shade a town square in what would become the United States. The colonists who planted it in Boston in 1646 named it the liberty tree. A century later, they met beneath it to plan how to fight British rule. It became such a symbol of resistance that, when the Revolutionary War began in 1775, the British chopped it down.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Researchers developing disease-resistant American elms; Twin Cities, MN
MPR: Researchers developing disease-resistant American elms
by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
June 16, 2009
Fargo, N.D.. — Minnesota could lose millions of ash trees to the emerald ash borer.
Forty-five years ago, disease struck another immensely popular tree, the American elm. Towering elms that shaded many streets were destroyed by Dutch elm disease.
The American elm is making a slow comeback.
by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
June 16, 2009
Fargo, N.D.. — Minnesota could lose millions of ash trees to the emerald ash borer.
Forty-five years ago, disease struck another immensely popular tree, the American elm. Towering elms that shaded many streets were destroyed by Dutch elm disease.
The American elm is making a slow comeback.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Arborists turn to surgery to save American elms; Tenafly, NJ
Arborists turn to surgery to save American elms Philadelphia Inquirer 05/08/2009: "Arborists turn to surgery to save American elms
By James M. O'Neill
BERGEN RECORD
TENAFLY, N.J. - A chain saw's drone drowned out the trill of migrating warblers in the Greenbrook Sanctuary woods as arborists conducted major surgery to save an extremely aged patient - a 163-year-old American elm tree.
Dutch elm disease has wiped out some of the few remaining stands of native elms in the region.
Greenbrook Sanctuary recently lost four of its 12 remaining elms. That spurred Nancy Slowik, the sanctuary's director and naturalist, to lobby the organization's board to start an aggressive campaign to save the elms that were left."
By James M. O'Neill
BERGEN RECORD
TENAFLY, N.J. - A chain saw's drone drowned out the trill of migrating warblers in the Greenbrook Sanctuary woods as arborists conducted major surgery to save an extremely aged patient - a 163-year-old American elm tree.
Dutch elm disease has wiped out some of the few remaining stands of native elms in the region.
Greenbrook Sanctuary recently lost four of its 12 remaining elms. That spurred Nancy Slowik, the sanctuary's director and naturalist, to lobby the organization's board to start an aggressive campaign to save the elms that were left."
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