[NatureNS] Forest Persectives, White or American Elm (Ulmus

Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:10:19 -0300
From: <fulton.harding@ns.sympatico.ca>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Cc: Dusan Soudek <soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca>
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All the elms were cut down many years ago in Chipman NB when they became infected with Dutch Elm disease.  There is one lone elm approximately 10 km away in Coal Creek on what was my Grandfather William Gesner's property.  That elm was still healthy the last time I looked at it.  Always amazed me that it survived when so many trees did not.

Marian Fulton 
Hantsport NS

---- Dusan Soudek <soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote: 
>     I've been following the debate triggered by G.L. Saunders' and Nick 
> Hill's recent opinion pieces in the Herald on the past and the future of the 
> Acadian Forest, and am somewhat surprised that the American Elm, our most 
> endangered native tree species, hasn't been mentioned once.
>    This species once dominated the rich alluvial lands along the lower 
> courses of our rivers. These lands were extremely attractive to early 
> European settlers, and many were cleared for agriculture centuries ago. The 
> second blow to the American Elm was the arrival of Dutch Elm Disease in the 
> 20th century, which wiped out much of the remnant population.
>    Yet one can still find an apparently healthy elm tree in the wild (or the 
> semi-wild) here and there. Are these rare individuals healthy due to chance 
> alone, i.e. their relative isolation from infected conspecific individuals, 
> or do they represent resistant genotypes?
>    Elm habitat in our province is under-represented in our system of 
> protected areas, because much of it is being farmed, inhabited, or simply 
> isn't "wild" enough to be protected. There seems to be no local effort to 
> re-establish resistant
> genotypes of American Elm into the Acadian Forest Region.
>    Paradoxically, elm trees are quite common on the streets of Halifax. What 
> species are they? Are any of them American Elm?
> If so, what might be their provenance?
>    Dusan Soudek
> 
> 

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