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This was news to me that there was any battle to be had here. I grew up in a part of suburban Chicago where all the residential streets were lined with elms --
by lafay 10y ago
This was news to me that there was any battle to be had here.
I grew up in a part of suburban Chicago where all the residential streets were lined with elms -- it looked very much like the photo of Central Park in the article. I can remember the little papery elm seeds littered everywhere. Over the course of my childhood in the 1980s they all got Dutch elm disease and every last one was removed. The village arborist would come by and spray paint a big green dot on the trunk -- a mark of death -- and a week later it'd be gone.
By the time I was in high school, it looked very bare. Most of the elms were replaced with maples, which are only now starting to look reasonably substantial.
- jobu 10y agoMany cities replaced those dead elms with ash trees lining the streets, and now they're facing a similar plight with the emerald ash borer.
- clock_tower 10y agoWhat were their reasons for planting another monoculture, after the last one ended so badly? It seems obvious to me that an urban mixed forest would be more resilient against disease -- so I'm guessing that urban planners had some reason I'm not thinking of...
- UnquietTinkerer 10y agoDutch elm disease (and emerald ash borer) wiped out natural tree populations in forests just as thoroughly as those planted in the city. While monocultures are not helping, that is a footnote to the real problem here: these diseases are invasive and native tree species have no resistance to them.
- maxerickson 10y agoThere is still elm growing wild. They are spaced out enough that transmission doesn't happen fast. The geographic spread of the ash borer is less complete than Dutch elm disease, so it's less clear what will happen over the long term. Maybe pockets of saplings will outlast the insects.