I’ve always loved your writing and lately it’s taken on such a deeper flavor. I love stewing on the thoughts you present :) Thank you for sharing this!
I just moved onto a piece of forested land in Greenwood Maine and have been really concerned about the over abundance of Beech clones crowding out all the other plants trying to thrive here. We have a lot of Beech Bark Disease here and I’ve been trying to figure out how to best take care of the forest we’re now stewarding! Have you come across anything about managing a forest with infected beech?
My paper goes much more into detail about the phenomenon of understory beech as a result of disease pressure. Want me to send over the link? Also this webinar was really helpful for understanding how foresters approach controlling over abundance of beech clones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11TTog0Lgb4&t=2s
Thank you soooo much for this. The question that arises first after reading this leads to the question I'm often left with at the end of many of my inquiries. What can we do to protect the beech ? > The bears ? > Ecology as we know it ?!
Good questions. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station is at the forefront of research on beech leaf disease. I think we will be learning more from papers published in the next year. So far it does seem like there are ways to manage both diseases on a small scale (phosphorus drenches, etc) but it would be impossible to scale up those treatments for millions of acres of affected beech trees (logistically and think of the all phosphorus that would have to be mined). At this point I think it is a little late to protect the beech from what has already been in progress for a century in the case of beech bark disease and a decade in the case of beech leaf disease. We can look to the vector for these diseases, the global horticultural plant trade, if we want this to stop happening. We are also loosing our Hemlock trees to the Wooly Adelgid which was also introduced through the global nursery trade. I think educating people about how we are loosing keystone species of our forests within the next decades due to invasive species and pathogens brought in by global plant trade. An emphasis on native plant landscaping would be incredible for our wildlife who depend on native plants for food and shelter and it would reduce future disease pressures. As for the bears, the ones in the northernmost ranges will be affected the most because beech is the predominant hard masting tree. In southern ranges there are more oaks and hickories for them to obtain fat and protein from. Perhaps as climate change progresses, oaks and hickories will migrate north, but I'm not sure what northern black bears will do in the meantime - likely seek food from human settlements like the study in Japan showed.
I’ve always loved your writing and lately it’s taken on such a deeper flavor. I love stewing on the thoughts you present :) Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks for noticing and sharing that! Means a lot to me :)
I just moved onto a piece of forested land in Greenwood Maine and have been really concerned about the over abundance of Beech clones crowding out all the other plants trying to thrive here. We have a lot of Beech Bark Disease here and I’ve been trying to figure out how to best take care of the forest we’re now stewarding! Have you come across anything about managing a forest with infected beech?
I’m just realizing this sent as Zoe haha. This is Nicole (the other half of Wild Few writing)
congrats on the new stewardship journey btw - that sounds very exciting!
My paper goes much more into detail about the phenomenon of understory beech as a result of disease pressure. Want me to send over the link? Also this webinar was really helpful for understanding how foresters approach controlling over abundance of beech clones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11TTog0Lgb4&t=2s
Thank you for this Geraldine. My heart is aching for the beech trees and the bears.
Thank you soooo much for this. The question that arises first after reading this leads to the question I'm often left with at the end of many of my inquiries. What can we do to protect the beech ? > The bears ? > Ecology as we know it ?!
Good questions. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station is at the forefront of research on beech leaf disease. I think we will be learning more from papers published in the next year. So far it does seem like there are ways to manage both diseases on a small scale (phosphorus drenches, etc) but it would be impossible to scale up those treatments for millions of acres of affected beech trees (logistically and think of the all phosphorus that would have to be mined). At this point I think it is a little late to protect the beech from what has already been in progress for a century in the case of beech bark disease and a decade in the case of beech leaf disease. We can look to the vector for these diseases, the global horticultural plant trade, if we want this to stop happening. We are also loosing our Hemlock trees to the Wooly Adelgid which was also introduced through the global nursery trade. I think educating people about how we are loosing keystone species of our forests within the next decades due to invasive species and pathogens brought in by global plant trade. An emphasis on native plant landscaping would be incredible for our wildlife who depend on native plants for food and shelter and it would reduce future disease pressures. As for the bears, the ones in the northernmost ranges will be affected the most because beech is the predominant hard masting tree. In southern ranges there are more oaks and hickories for them to obtain fat and protein from. Perhaps as climate change progresses, oaks and hickories will migrate north, but I'm not sure what northern black bears will do in the meantime - likely seek food from human settlements like the study in Japan showed.