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Health & Fitness

Are The East Hampton Elms Doomed? Not Quite.

This beautiful image by painter Childe Hassam (1859 – 1935) immortalizes the famous and majestic elm-lined streets of East Hampton from an era gone by. According to global reports, however, this type of majestic imagery may literally become a thing of the past. There are increasing news stories with titles such as these: “Why are old trees disappearing?” “Why are the world’s older trees disappearing?” “Trees Are Disappearing” “Mystery of disappearing trees in world’s biggest urban forest,” and so on.
 
These stories are presented with a mixture of scientific authority and a bit of mystery as well. When I searched for the scientific source of the opinion, this generally led to a report published December 7, 2012 in the journal Science, entitled Global Decline in Large Old Trees.
 
The BBC highlighted one of the claims of the study: “According to a report published recently in the journal Science, death rates have increased alarmingly among trees between 100 and 300 years old.” Is this a slightly alarmist opinion, or is it conclusively true? I won’t get into the question of scientific reliability today. But I will outline some of the main reasons offered for the decline of large, old trees:
 
In Australia, fire, logging, drought, disease are cited as the biggest issues.
(Why are old trees disappearing?)
 
In South Africa, firewood consumption is cited.
(Mystery of disappearing trees in world’s biggest urban forest)
 
In the US, paper production is a main concern.
(Trees Are Disappearing)
 
In England, tree fungus is outlined as a major threat.
(Mighty Old Trees Are Perishing Fast, Study Warns)
 
Is the sight of majestic, tree-lined streets, such as the elm-lined streets in East Hampton, becoming a thing of the past? Is the prolonged cultivation of large, old-growth trees in the future unlikely? Have you detected a noticeable sharp decline in larger, older trees? Upon doing a little more research, I found that Dutch Elm Disease (DED) fungus has been seriously attacking large elms on the North Fork and that preventive measures against this type of fungus with East Hampton elms has been successful for the past two years.
 
These preventive measures have been spearheaded by The Ladies Village Improvement Society (LVIS), as noted at this link. So if you enjoy these East Hampton elms, you might want to thank them, and here is their contact information. One of the largest elms in East Hampton has a 14-foot circumference and it is located on the property of the LVIS. The Cultural Landscape Foundation (CLF) offers more information here. And they have some beautiful historical photos of East Hampton elms.
 
If climate change, drought and fungal threats are escalating as dramatically as many claim, then large trees will become increasingly more rare. One possible solution would be to propagate large trees that are not susceptible to fungus and to equip them with irrigation systems, just in case. While the question of fungus and elm trees remains open, Warren’s Nursery in Water Mill offers a wide variety of mature Hamptons-grown specimen trees. Warren’s is presently offering some sculpted linden trees that should grow quite large. This link offers a list of some local favorite deciduous trees perfect for Long Island. And this link features a video with popular salt-tolerant evergreens that are also excellent for Long Island.
 
This post was originally published at Warren's under the title "Why are large, old trees disappearing globally?"

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