Elm lovers wanted

By ELISA CAMPBELL

Published on May 09, 2008

Recently, Amherst celebrated Arbor Day. We thanked Stan Ziomek for his decades of service as Amherst's Tree Warden by planting a red oak in his honor, commented on Amherst's recognition by the state as a "Tree City." People had a chance to learn about tree identification, or how to climb a tree, or to sign up to purchase a tree to plant in commemoration of Amherst's 250th anniversary next year.

Several dedicated lovers of trees even went inside on a nice afternoon to see a movie called "The American Elm: Majestic, Imperiled, Renewed." It's a wonderful, sad and inspiring film about the wonderful shape and strengths of the American Elm, and its sad demise as a result of the accidental introduction of a fungus from Asia (it's called "Dutch Elm Disease" because that's where it was diagnosed, not where it came from).

The film also made clear that all is not lost.

There are now several varieties of elm trees that are resistant to the disease, so elms are again being planted by cities and by the National Park Service along The Mall and around the Capitol and White House in Washington, D.C.

The film also shows we can in fact protect our remaining large elm trees from disease and death. In Minneapolis, citizen volunteers worked hard to rally their fellow citizens to protect the elms along their streets. Determined effort, combined with greater knowledge about the disease, are having a positive effect.

According to Alan Snow, our current tree warden, sanitation is helpful. That means removing sick parts of trees or sick trees as quickly as possible, so they don't spread it to other trees. The disease is carried by bark beetles - both the American bark beetle and the (introduced) European bark beetle can spread it. But, it turns out, the quickest and therefore most lethal spread is by "root graft" - that is, roots of two or more trees growing together in a tangle. When the disease is spread by fungus on beetles, it starts in the branches, and if people are alert, those branches can be pruned off before the disease spreads to the rest of the tree. But if the disease comes up from the roots, the tree is doomed, and dies very quickly. Therefore it is especially important for sick elms near other elms to be removed immediately.

There is an inoculation process that can protect individual trees from the disease. It has to be repeated every few years, but it does work. The Grayson Elm on Sunset has been protected by this process in the past. We should protect more.

The first step in protecting our remaining elms is to identify them and their locations. Snow is looking for help from us. If you know of an elm tree, please email him at treewarden@amherstma.gov, telling him where it is and, if you know, whether it is on private property or is a town tree. Snow or the foreman of the town's tree crew, Dan Lafountain, will check out its location, and add it to the town's inventory. From that, they can then develop a program for protecting them. It will then be up to us, the citizens, to push for resources to actually do it.

Large trees along roads and around buildings are important to our quality of life. We enjoy their shade and coolness in the summer, as well as the birds and squirrels that live in them. We are inspired by their strength and beauty throughout the year.

But we won't keep them by continuing to neglect them. About three years ago I made a list of elm trees I had seen from the road, including on the East Street Common, West Street, Amity Street, Pomeroy Lane, the South Amherst Common, and near the corner of College Street and South East Street. Some of them have died since then.

Let's join together to give the rest of our elms a chance to live and thrive. We all will benefit from the trees and the increased sense of community that comes with working together on a project.

Elisa Campbell is a former member of the Select Board.