This in the local paper this morning: http://www.kjonline.com/news/Scientists_fear_renewed_threat_to_white_pine_trees_.html Fist we lost our elms, the the hemlocks are on the decline, and now this.
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news...s-gooseberry-current-plants-because-they.html http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/pdf/3205.pdf http://www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/WhitePineBlisterRust_new.htm http://extension.umass.edu/landscap...ns/currants_gooseberries_prohibited_towns.pdf
Must not be as big of a deal here, the only information I found from our extension office is how to properly care for them.
White pine is a huge industrial wood here. Maine takes every precaution it can to keep invasive plants, bugs etc. out of this state. Can't even bring firewood into the state when camping. I think it might slow things down, but prevent it, doubtful. People are not the only things that invasive bugs and plants into the area.
There seems to always be trees and plants at risk. The EAB is big right now, and NY is where the American Chestnut met its demise.
Butternut Canker is very widespread in the Midwest & eastern US.Some states have lost 90% of their stands since surveys were started about 30 years ago.The disease wasn't really known until the early '90's.Some reports are saying it could mean total decimation of the Butternut,where as the Chestnut still manages to barely hang on by sending stump sprouts that live 15 or so years in scattered parts of its range. A fair amount of wild gooseberries are still found in scattered Iowa & Midwest forests.Quite a lot at parents acreage & surrounding property areas.Not as many as the mid-late '80's though.Combination of record spring rains/saturated soil + hot dry summers the past several years have take a toll on lots of those shrubs.Great in pies or jams.but I've never seen any wild ones over 5/8" diameter,most are 1/2" if you're lucky.
Needlecast got most of the spruce on my property. Pine isn't very abundant around me but not far north of me the hardwood forests turn to pine pretty quick. I hope nature straightens itself out for the sake of the next generation. When I was a kid it was elm that disappeared. Now it's ash. I'd hate to imagine the world with barren forests.
When I started cutting in '81 that was near the end of the first big wave of the disease.Lots of dead very large old Red Elm & even more White Elm about the same size.That lasted a few years,then it seemed to be in remission.In the late 90's it returned,started to see most of the few big remaining Red & White's slowly dying off.Quite a few smaller ones left,but only a few medium sized or bigger in the areas I cut or public parks etc.Have noticed that even several small ones are dying now too,that's not a good sign.
Wow, we have planted about 200 white pine over the past 19 years. They grow well in our heavy ,wet clay soil. I would hate to lose them. We are also concerned with the EAB. We have over a hundred Ash tree.
I remember gathering chestnut stumps for firewood in the late 60's or early 70's. My grandfather had cut them all down, probably by 1950, only stumps remained. As I recall we were able to knock them over pretty easily but the wood was still in pretty good shape for burning. The land was reforested farmland so they weren't much more than a foot in diameter but there were stumps everywhere. I can only imagine what they looked like when they were alive.
We lived through the dutch elm disease but still have lots of elm. Trouble is, it won't get very big before it dies. Still makes good firewood if you make it under the right conditions.
They grow to about 6 in. in diameter then die. There are a few mature ones left at the VA hospital, I think they get treated.
That is a nice story. I remember following it as it went on. That tree had a good life. I hate to see a whole genus of tree compromised.
