Life of a Maple Part 5: Maple Incline and Decline

Healthy sugar maple forest.

It is very likely that prior to European settlement that deciduous forests of eastern North America were actually more disturbed than they are today.  This presettlement disturbance however was much different from the disturbance we see in our forests today.  Today, we see grazing, logging, invasive species, and widespread agriculture as the major forms of disturbance.  During presettlement days fire was the most common type of disturbance of the forest.  Just like the modern disturbances, it is very likely that fire was also human caused in a vast majority of cases.  Given the wet nature of eastern deciduous forests, it is extremely unlikely that fire could have been anything other than human caused.  While today's disturbances are typically an after though to land use, Native Americans purposely used fire to manipulate the landscape, increasing its productivity, and health. 

Fire however, strongly works against the maple tree.  Remembering back to previous installments of this series on maple trees, you might remember that maples prefer very stable, undisturbed habitats.  Anytime fire comes around one of these habitats where maples have become established, the maples are killed off.  As a result, prior to European settlement of the eastern deciduous forest oaks, a fire adapted species were far more abundant, and maples, a fire intolerant species were far less abundant.  By some estimates in some locations there may be up to three times more maples today than there was in the 1800's.  The increase of maples over the last century is a result of fire suppression by European settlers.  It was only on the best soils, in the most ideal habitats where fire didn't touch that maples were found in the 1800's and prior. 

Sugar Maples in fall.

As fire was suppressed and forests began to stabilize, maples began to expand there range.  Maples increased, invaded, and replaced forests that historically had been filled with oaks.  Oak forests typically are far drier and have poorer soil than ideal maple forests.  Oak forests were naturally more prone to fire and therefore easily survived.  But without fire maples moved in. 

Maples moving into areas of less than ideal soil wasn't the best thing for the forest.  Being maples are extremely picky about their environment, living in these less than ideal soils made them especially sensitive to drought.  Oaks are adapted to drought but maples are not.  Maples ideally overcome drought simply by living in the best soils in the forest.  But in less than ideal soils, the maples were damaged during drought.  The damage did not end with drought though.  Drought damage made the tree more susceptible to other problems such as fungal infections and insect damage which often end up killing the tree.  So the incline of maples was a direct result of fire suppression allowing maples to move into marginal habitats.  Maple decline is a result of maples living in these marginal habitats.

Forest where many of the maple trees are dying due to "maple decline".

Life of a Maple Part 4: Maple Syrup

If the Sugar Maple tree is famous for anything, it is famous for maple syrup.  Early each spring as the snow melts, maple syrup farms spring to life from the Midwest U.S., Northeast U.S., and Southeast Canada.  I personally have payed a few visits to these farms and they are always quite an interesting experience.  The weather is typically beautiful with temperatures between 30 and 50 degrees.  This is at least beautiful compared to the previous winter months.  Snow is typically on the ground but melting, which is producing the next most memorable thing about most maple syrup farms: mud.  The farms I've visited are always unbelievably muddy.  They are so muddy in-fact that horses are often used to gather sap.  Horses are used rather than tractors or other vehicles simply because they don't get stuck in the mud! 

The story of how maple syrup is made begins with the previous late summer.  Late in the summer, the maple tree stops growing and instead stores energy in the form of starch.  This starch is stored in the trees sapwood through the winter.  Come spring when sapwood temperatures reach about 40 degrees the starch is converted to sugar by an enzyme and moves out of the wood and into the tree sap.  Rising temperatures, particularly in the morning as the sun comes up, cause the sap to rise through vessels.  The sap rises towards the trees twigs and branches where the sugar will help the tree to begin flowering and budding. 

A large maple tree with two taps and buckets for collecting sap.

As the sap rises, if a tap is in place, some of the sap will drip out of the tree.  This sap generally contains about 2-3 percent sugar and is collected in buckets hanging from the tap.  One Sugar Maple tap can produce 5 to 15 gallons of sap.  Once the sap is gathered from multiple trees it is boiled down to evaporate off the water and concentrate the sugars to form maple syrup.  Typically 40 gallons of sap will produce about 1 gallon of maple syrup.  While sugar maples are the most common tree for producing syrup, red maples, black maples, silver maples, and even boxelder trees (also in the maple family) all can produce syrup. 

Maple syrup was first discovered by and utilized by Native Americans.  Europeans quickly picked-up on the practice and refined it to the practice we see today. 

Earthworm Invasion

Northern Maple forest without earthworms.

As odd as it might sound, earthworms are not native to the northern United States and Canada.  Why? Well, as glaciers receded from the northern portion of North America 11,000 years ago, they left behind a bitterly cold and extremely muddy waste land.  These glaciers reached from the north to their southern the extent of present day norther Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.  Along this southern extent of the glacial line and northward there have been no earthworms until recently.  Worms simply couldn't survive the frigidly cold temperatures and frozen tundra when glaciers were present in these areas.  Further south however, where glaciers never reached, earthworms have been around for a long time. 

Within recent decades however, earthworms began showing-up in these formerly glaciated soils of the north.  This might not seem that weird until you realize that earth worms travel an average of 5 or 6 yards a year.  Over 11,000 years that equals only about 40 miles, which is a ridiculously slow rate that wouldn't have even allowed them to travel across an entire state.  Even if you double or triple that distance it doesn't even come close to the distance the worms would need to travel to show up in these northern forests.  So how did they move thousands of miles in just a few decades?  The only explanation is that humans carried them.  Fishermen and gardeners are especially notorious for carrying earthworms long distances.  As a result, worms were accidentally introduced to new locations hundreds of miles away from the nearest native worms. 

Northern Maple forest with earthworms.

Most people might think this is a good thing.  Worms are very good for garden soil after all.  The reality is though, worms are not very good for northern forest soils.  Worms are extremely efficient at what they do, which is break down organic materials such as dead leaves.  They do this extremely rapidly, moving nutrients from dead organic materials into the soil quickly.  As a result, plants cannot absorb the nutrients as fast as need and much is lost when water washes it out of the soil.  The burrowing action of worms also functions to compact forest soils, making it more difficult for plants to survive.  While some plants are well adapted to earthworms crawling around through their roots, other plants are extremely sensitive.  Sugar Maples, one of the dominant plants in these northern forests, is extremely sensitive to earthworms. Establishment of maple seedlings where earthworms are present becomes very difficult.  Northern forests with earthworms have far fewer plants than forests without earthworms.  Simply by changing soil and forest floor structure, the earthworm has a huge effect on the overall habitat. 

Fortunately, earthworms have not taken over every single forest in these northern areas.  Also fortunate is the fact that worms only travel about 6 yards a year.  This means, if people quit transporting worms to new areas in the north, populations of worms aren't going to expand much. 

Great Lakes Worm Watch

Life of a Maple Part 3: The Maple Tree and Sunlight

When it comes to soil, Sugar Maples are pretty picky.  When it comes to sunlight however, maples aren't picky at all.  Other trees, such as oaks, prefer to have as much sunlight as possible through out their entire lifespan.  Maples however can do quite well with very low levels of light early on in life.  This is a very fortunate adaptation being the most ideal soils for maples are typically going to be located in the shade of large trees.  Lots of, but not complete, shade aids the germination and early sprouts of maples.  However, maple seedlings will often have stunted growth in very low light situations.  Small seedlings and saplings are capable of surviving many years in the shade of larger trees.  Other sun loving trees such as oaks simply would die due to lack of sunlight.  These small maple trees simply wait until the larger tree dies and is removed by ice storms, wind, or disease.  The wait for an older maple to die can be a long one though being they are capable of living 500 years. 

Once these over-story trees are out of the way, smaller trees that had waited patiently in the shade for years suddenly make a bolt for the sky until becoming a dominant tree in the forest canopy.  This cycle can then repeat itself many times over with younger maples replacing older maples.  This self sustaining process of the Sugar Maple forest will continue unless significant disturbance such as fire or major drought take place.  If disturbance does happen, plants that require more light, such as grasslands or oak forests, will replace the maple trees.  Given time though, and lack of disturbance, after a hundred or more years the maples will replace sun loving trees such as oaks and will again dominate the forest.  This process of one plant community replacing another plant community is called succession.  Maple forests typically are the last stage in succession, which is called the climax plant community. 

Slow growth, long life, and tolerance for shade are what make the maple a climax forest species.  Faster growing trees with shorter lives typically require lots of light and occupy areas after a major disturbance such as fire.  The slow growing maple tolerates the shade and out live these faster short lived species.   Shade tolerance is one of the most important adaptations maples have to being a late successional climax tree.  There are a number of more minor adaptations that aid in the overall shade tolerance of maple.  First off, maples form large thin leaves that gather light very well.  Leaves lack pubescence, or hairiness, which would block light.  These leaves also grow to orient themselves in a manner that helps them gather the most sun light.  Pigments inside of the leaves also are especially adapted to gathering far red light which is abundant in shady environments.  Lastly, maples produce a huge number of leaves in their canopies in order to catch as much light as possible.  Such a great density of leaves are produced by Sugar Maples that the top 10 percent of leaves gather 60 percent of the total sunlight. 

Life of a Maple Part 2: Soil and Roots

A moist maple forest with rich soil.

A Sugar Maple seed doesn't get to choose where and what type of soil it gets to land on.  Typically, where the seed lands is a result of wind direction and strength at the time it falls.  Where ever the seed germinates and begins to grow is where it will spend the rest of its life.  The unfortunate majority will die long before reaching a foot in height.  Often, predators such as deer and squirrels, find the young seedling far to appetizing to pass it by.  Many seedlings will also unfortunately find themselves in soil that is less than ideal.  As far as deciduous forest trees go, the Sugar Maple is quite picky, much like Goldilocks.  The soil can't be too wet or the roots will suffocate as they drown in the water soaked soil.   Neither can the soil be too dry or the roots will dehydrate.  Nor can the soil have too much clay or too much sand.  They soil has to be just right. Even when the soil has just the right texture (meaning the right amounts of clay and sand) and the right amount of water, the soil might not be good enough.  The soil also has to have high levels of nutrients.  Soils with low nitrogen or calcium may prevent healthy growth and longevity of maples.  Even then, maples seem to prefer very deep soils deposited by glaciers over any other type of soil.  The maple is very picky...

The reason the maple is so very picky is because of its roots.  Just like branches of deciduous trees shed their leaves annually, larger roots also shed tiny roots annually and with dry weather.  Maples produce an abundance of these fine roots at very shallow depths, right where the nutrients are highest.  It has been estimated that 60 percent of annual productivity of maples is actually contained within these roots.  This is quite amazing when you consider the great density of leaves maple trees produce annually.  The fact that so much of the tree is in-fact these very sensitive tiny roots makes the whole tree very sensitive to whatever happens on or in the most shallow layers of soil.  Trampling by foot traffic, vehicles, or cattle can damage these roots as well as cause the soil to dry out, killing the roots and potentially killing the whole tree.  If fire burns across the ground, the surface soil will be significantly dried out also potentially killing the roots.  The heat of the fire can also kill the roots very easily.  Pollution, such as acid rain, can change the chemistry of the soil, also killing fine roots and damaging the overall tree.

Fortunately, the maple tree does have some adaptations that help make it at least a little less sensitive to changes in the surface soil.  For one, the overall root system of maples is capable of hydraulically redistributing moisture from deep within the soil to more shallow soils.  The thick shade of maples also helps to prevent evaporation of moisture from the soil.  Also, the fact that maples transpire, or "exhale", large amounts of water vapor while photosynthesizing helps cool the environment and increase humidity.  Fallen leaves are very absorbent and are a very effective mulch that help hold moisture in the soil.  All of this helps moisture to be retained within the soil where it can be utilized by the tree and prevents moisture from evaporating into the environment.  All around, the maple works to keep its environment as moist as possible.

Sugar Maple tree in fall.

Life of a Maple Tree: Part 1 Seed to Sprout

I'll be starting a new series on the blog about the life cycle of the maple tree, specifically the sugar maple.  This is sort of a follow-up to the series on oaks and hickory trees.  Maples are sort of a logical follow-up to the oak-hickory forest being they are later successional species to the oaks and hickories.

Sugar Maple leave

The life of a maple tree begins with the charismatic "whirlybird" seed which fall like helicopters from the mother maple.  Often masses of these seeds will blow off of mature maples and twirl to the ground on windy fall days.  Technically, these "whirlybird" seeds are called samara, which are simple seeds with a flattened papery wing-like portion.  The whirlybird nature of these seeds helps the wind to carry them a long to new locations, often hundreds of yards away.  Then hopefully, the seed will be able to sprout and develop into a new tree.

Once on the ground, the maple seed prefers moist and undisturbed locations, such as in a maple forest or an oak-hickory forest that has not been disturbed by fire.  This is because the maple seed is not well protected.  While the wing portion of the samara is good for transporting the seed with the wind, it doesn't do much else.  The seed requires a moist area, and is easily killed by damage from trampling animals, dehydration, or heat from fire.  Once on the ground though the seed becomes actively searched out for by numerous small animals such as rabbits, squirrels, and mice.  Predation really isn't too much of a problem though, the maple tree typically produces so many seeds that it overwhelms predators.  Predators have plenty to go around and there are still plenty of seeds left over to germinate and sprout. 

Sugar Maple samara seeds.

If not found by seed predators on the ground, the seed than requires the cold of winter in order for it to germinate.  Without cold, the seed will not germinate.  Many species of trees, such as oaks, have a difficult time establishing themselves in soil covered with a thick layer of leaves.  Oaks therefore require the ground to be disturbed by fire so their acorns can sprout and grow.  The maple however, does not have this problem and prefers undisturbed forest ground cover, often thickly covered with dead leaves.  Once germinated, the root easily penetrates through thick moist layers of leaves from the previous year. 

Another oddity of the maple is that it prefers shade.  The maple does not like competition with other small plants such as grasses and shrubs.  It does to quite well though when growing under the canopy of mature trees that shade-out other plants.  In-fact, maple seeds germinate and grow best where there is 50 percent or more shade.  In these areas tiny maple seeds can sprout by the thousands, often leading to a carpet of young maple trees.  The problem though is, once germinated there is so little light in these areas the trees will not grow very large and growth will be stunted.  Again though, the maple is adapted to this situation, being able to survive, but not grow, in minimal light retirements for many years.  The tiny stunted tree simply waits until older larger trees casting shade on the forest floor die.  Once these larger trees die, the tiny maple tree grows rapidly in the new sunlight. 

During the potentially long period of time that a maple seedling remains a small stunted tree it is important that the forest remains undisturbed.  Fire and drought both will easily kill these seedlings.  Predators, such as deer, also heavily browse on "carpets" of small maple seedlings.  Usually though, plenty of seedlings survive predation with drought and fire being the big killers. 

grounded design by Thomas Rainer: Why I Don't Believe in Low Maintenance Landscapes

I love this blog post I came across.  I personally believe landscapes are meant to be productive elements of our lives, and this requires maintenance.   This maintenance, and the products of the landscape, benefit us in innumerable ways.  From: Grounded Design

grounded design by Thomas Rainer: Why I Don't Believe in Low Maintenance Landscapes: The American obsession with low maintenance landscapes is a problem. Here’s why. There are several phrases I’ve learned to dread from clients. “I want to swim by Memorial Day,” is always a heart-stopper, particularly when you were hired in March to design a swimming pool and garden. “I want this garden to look perfect for my daughter’s wedding,” is perhaps the most dreaded phrase of all. If you ever hear that one, run far away. But the phrase that makes me cringe the most is a phrase I hear all the time: “I want this to be low maintenance.”

A low maintenance landscape is a rather innocuous request. It is also, of course, an absolutely sensible one. After all, who has the time or resources to pour endless hours into a landscape? Plus, traditional maintenance often focuses on chemical inputs and gas-powered machinery, all of which are bad for the environment. Perhaps low maintenance landscapes are both good for people and the environment, right?

Yes and no. “Low maintenance” is not just an idea, it is an ideology. It is the promise of more for less. As Americans, we still believe cheap, fertile land is our manifest destiny. We deserve bounty without labor, satisfaction without commitment.

The ideology of low maintenance has received new fervor from advocates of sustainable landscapes. In eco-speak, maintenance is a dirty word. Maintenance means gas-powered machinery, irrigation systems, and petro-chemicals. A low maintenance landscape is natural.

The promise of low maintenance landscapes is an empty one. The very idea that you can do less and have more is a mythology. Landscapes constantly change and require input—lots of it—to look the way we want them to. Lines blur, plants suffer without water, and weeds move in. Nothing stays the same. Even naturalistic and native landscapes require heavy interventions to look natural. In nature, thousands of years of natural selection create relatively stable environments. In our yards, our active engagement is the sine qua non of a garden. The less we do, the worse our yards look. 

Read the rest here:  Why I Don't Believe in Low Maintenance Landscapes

Montezuma Castle National Monument

Montezuma's Castle

I recently made a trip to Montezuma Castle National Monument in central Arizona.  The National Monument is just a short trip off of the I-17 north of Phoenix and has two parts, the Montezuma Castle which is the main part, and Montezuma's Well which is a lesser visited section of the park.  Today, we will be discussing the castle portion of the monument.  We will discuss the well at a later time.  Both of these sections have some pretty interesting biology.  I will save some blog space by letting you read-up on the monument at the National Park website if you are interested:  http://www.nps.gov/moca/index.htm

Instead of giving the basic information on the park, I'll try to give you a little different perspective.

The tiny Beaver Creek that runs past Montezuma's Castle makes big changes in the desert landscape.  Much more water runs underground in this stream than above ground, feeding the trees of this desert oasis.

During the summer, Montezuma's Castle can give us modern humans a good perspective of what a desert oasis is like.  Us moderners are used to air conditioning, running water, and produce filled super markets everywhere we go.  Obviously this wasn't the case in the desert less than a century ago.  Hiking around the monument in the sweltering heat and scorching sun of summer should get one major point across to everyone about living in the desert.  That is: water is life.  The rolling limestone hills and mountains surrounding the monument are covered with relatively sparse Upper Sonoran Desert vegetation.  Water for drinking is completely absent and shade is minuscule.  Yuccas, prickly pear cacti, Creosote Bush, and Grey Thorn are the dominate plants, none of which cast any significant amount of shade.  Finding or not finding shade in the summer can mean life or death.  Think about how much hotter it is in the sun than it is in the shade.  Temperatures the weatherman gives us everyday are always taken in the shade.  If you were to take the temperature in the desert sun it might be thirty or more degrees hotter.  130 plus degrees is not easy for the body to handle and can quickly lead to life threatening heat stroke.  This is exactly why ancient Native Americans settled along Beaver Creek, where the water from the creek mean life.

Gazing up into an Arizona Sycamore tree along Beaver Creek in Montezuma Castle National Monument.  This tree casts life giving shade that decreases the temperature by tens of degrees.

Beaver Creek might not look like much, but its effect on the landscape is dramatic.  The water-less shade-less landscape surrounding Beaver Creek quickly is transformed into a more moist and shady habitat the nearer you get to the creek.  Real trees become abundant near the creek, replacing the diminutive pathetic excuses for trees further away.  Smaller desert trees such as Desert Willows, Mesquites, and Acacias, become common along the outer edges of the riparian area.  Riparian areas are simply the vegetation adjacent to water.  As you move closer huge Arizona Sycamores, Arizona Walnuts, Velvet Ash and Cottonwoods become abundant and cast a dense shade on the ground.  Hackberry, Mesquites, and Acacias are also common in the undergrowth of these large trees.  This shady more moist environment is far more hospitable and inviting than the surrounding desert.  In-fact, you can get the feeling this shady desert oasis might have even had a paradise like sense to it to ancient desert dwellers.  While the actual creek might not look like much, remember, a much large amount of water is flowing slowly underground.  This underground water feeds the deep rooted riparian trees tens of yards away, creating an abundance of life in the desert.

Beyond all this, the creek of course also supplied plenty of water for agriculture for ancient inhabitants.  The riparian vegetation also supplied the ancients with plenty of wild foods to eat such as mesquite bean pods.  Furthermore, the riparian area was not only attractive to humans but also to wildlife, which were hunted.  On our trip we saw an abundance of wildlife including two snakes, squirrels, wrens of various species and a rather tame Summer Tanager.  

A rather tame Summer Tanager found at the monument.

Desert Ironwood: Olneya tesota

Desert Ironwood flowers.

The Desert Ironwood is a subtle but one of the more interesting desert plants.  Saguaros and other cacti get a lot of attention as hard core desert plants, but the iron like endurance of Ironwoods makes them legendary.  Well at least I think it should, so let me explain.

A few weeks ago the Ironwoods lost most of their leaves in the process of getting ready to bloom.  Nearly every year this happens I fear the lack of rain in past months is killing the tree.  Not so.  Now in mid-May however, Ironwoods in the Sonoran Desert are shows off their stuff with purple blooms that cover the tree.  These flowers are quite beautiful and create quite an array of busyness for several weeks.  When hiking up to a blooming Ironwood this time of year the entire tree appears to be buzzing.  Thousands upon thousands of bees, gnats and other insects swarm the tree, feeding upon the nectar and helping the tree out by pollinating it.  Birds, such as Gnat Catchers and Fly Catchers, also actively feed on this buzzing swarm of insects.  With the minimal amount of rain the desert has received this past winter it is quite amazing that the trees can produce such a spectacular amount of flowers. 

A blooming Ironwood.

How does the Ironwood produce such great displays year after year, even when there is scant rainfall?  As I mentioned earlier, the Ironwood is an iron-like champion of desert conditions.  First off their roots penetrate far deeper than any other Sonoran Desert plant, some say up to 100 or more feet deep.  This allows them access to deep moisture, out of reach of other desert plants and protected from evaporating into the atmosphere.  Access to this highly stable water source is essential to its desert survival.  The problem with this however is that only a very tiny amount of moisture ever penetrates deep into desert soils, nearly all of it only soaks in a foot or two at the most before the heat evaporates it away.  This would make deep roots nearly useless except for one neat little strategy Ironwoods and other deep rooted plants often use.  When rain penetrates only the most shallow layers of soil, Ironwoods use their shallow roots to absorb moisture.  Some of this moisture is of course transported to the leaves to carry out photosynthesis but some of it also is transported downward through the deep roots and deposited into the soil deep below the surface.  Then, when everything drys out above ground the Ironwood reabsorbs and utilizes this moisture stored deep underground, allowing the plant access to water during long periods without rain.

About the only place where water penetrates deep into the desert soil is in the numerous dry washes that thread through the landscape.  This deep moisture penetration in dry washes, and the deep roots of the Ironwood, make dry washes a perfect habitat for the Ironwood.  The deep roots do well in the loose sandy soils of washes making Ironwoods one of the more common dry wash plants.  In-fact, they have been labeled as one of the "Big-Four" dry wash plants of the Sonoran Desert.  Even in areas of the desert that receive only four inches of rain, where it is two dry for much of anything to occupy the uplands, Ironwoods will occupy the washes.  These Ironwoods can survive quite well off of the moisture that seeps deep into wash sediments due to infrequent flash floods.

Ironwood actually derives its name from the very nature of its wood, another important desert adaptation.  Like iron, the wood is extremely hard, and is so dense it actually sinks in water.  The hard nature of this wood helps siphon water up from the roots to the leaves even under extreme drought conditions.  Softer wood would cause a breakage of the water column being siphoned up the trunk and to the leaves.

These adaptations make the Ironwood the largest desert tree of the dry uplands.  I have found Ironwoods with trunks three foot in diameter and thirty foot tall.  No other desert tree attains these sizes unless they are along a perennial river.  In the large limbs and trunks I have often found large bee hives or pack-rat middens.  I have also found Kit Foxes hiding high up in the trees.  Other desert trees typically never attain sizes near enough to support these types of things.  Ironwoods also survive cutting being they readily re-sprout from their trunks.  In some areas I have found nearly every Ironwood has been cut sometime in the past by the presence of old stumps.  These stumps however re-sprouted and now support very healthy trees.  It is very rare to find a dead Ironwood, especially in comparison to other desert trees.  I also suspect Ironwoods to be one of the oldest desert plants.  I am sure they can live for several hundred years without problem. 

Restoring Fire to Ecosystems

Midwestern Oak Woodland actively managed by fire.

Fire is a fascinating force of nature.  Its use or disuse results in huge consequences.  If you think about it, we all use fire in one form another probably every day.  If we use a combustion engine or a gas heater or gas stove we have used fire.  This of course has ecosystem consequences due to drilling for gas and the carbon dioxide produced after combustion.  There is a lot of power in the ability to control fire and was likely one of the first steps towards technological advancement of the human race.  Less applicable to most of us "modern" humans is the role of fire in ecosystems.  Again, the use and disuse of fire has huge consequences on how an ecosystem functions and what it becomes.  For thousands of years native cultures throughout the world have used fires to control, engineer, and improve ecosystems.  For example, it is very likely the Tall Grass Prairies of the Midwest would be extremely rare if it were not for Native Americans purposefully burning prairie grass often on a nearly annual basis for thousands of years.  Natives started the fires to remove trees and shrubs, and thereby improve the productivity of the land from which they derived their all their resources for living.  Farmers today still benefit from the rich soils left behind as a legacy of the Native Americans fire management technique.  In the rainforest, natives still today employ a slash and burn technique to clear land for farming, then slowly letting the land return to rainforest.  Certain types of soils in the Amazonian Rainforest still are amazingly rich even thousands of years after slash and burn management by the native.  Ponderosa Pine Woodlands of the Western United States and Oak Woodlands of the Midwest also are a legacy of Native Americans purposefully burning ground cover to kill off the abundance of trees and shrubbery.  The huge benefits of fire in ecosystems wasn't entirely realized until so called more intelligent, more "modern" people groups eliminated fire from the ecosystem.  In the name of technological advancement a lot of more ancient technology was forgotten simply because it was thought the new was better than the old.  As a result soil productivity decreased causing the land to be less productive, open woodlands where small safe controlled burns took place were filled in with trees causing major dangerous forest fires to become more frequent, and ecosystems were invaded with fire intolerant and less productive species.  It is only within the past 30 or so years that fire has been reintroduced to ecosystems as a management tool and we have rediscovered its huge benefits.

Oak Woodlands, like the one in this video, have been dependent on humans burning them every decade or so for many thousands of years.  When they are burned the underbrush and less productive plant species such as maples are removed and the soil enriched.  All benefiting the productivity of the oak trees and in turn befitting wildlife and people economically, aesthetically, and safety wise.

I had several posts on Oak Woodlands last fall pertaining to fire in the ecosystem and specifically Oak trees.  Click here.

Life of a Hickory Tree Part 3

This is part three and the last post of the Life of a Hickory Tree.

As the hickory slowly grows it develops a hard strong wood.  While this wood structure helps the tree survive drought and windy conditions, it also makes it highly useful to humans.  Hickory is well known for making strong tool handles.  Native Americans frequently made bows and arrows from the wood.  Settlers also used it to make wagon wheels, skis, and old fashion golf clubs.  It is also great fire wood being its dense wood burns long and hot making great charcoal.  This extremely useful wood made the hickories some of the first to be cut down by early settlers.  Even today hickory is used in making tools, all kinds of wood craft, and for smoke curing meats.  In my opinion, hickory smoked meats really are some of the best tasting!

As the shagbark hickory grows it develops a tall straight trunk and often columnar shaped tree.  Oak trees are often spreading, making them especially adapted to growing in grasslands where they can spread their branches horizontally to gather light and there is little competition with nearby trees shading them.  Hickories with their narrower more columnar shape are more of a woodland species grow up towards sunlight as they compete with nearby trees.  As the hickory slowly grows it loses its ability to re-sprout if damaged by fire.  Larger trees however are increasingly resistant to fire as they grow.  This fire resistance though is nothing compared to oaks thick insulating bark and large hickories still can only tolerate very low intensity ground fires.  If larger trees are exposed to higher intensity fires, even if the flames do not initially kill the tree, damaged cambium becomes highly prone to rot which can subsequently kill the tree. 
For the first 20 to 30 years of life, the shagbark produces a beautifully smooth, gray bark.  This bark is very thin and even a very shallow cut into it will produce the green cambium.  As the tree ages though the bark becomes increasingly scaly, rough, and a gray-black color.  A much harder and slightly thicker layer of bark covers the trunk.  By the time the tree reaches 30 years of age the bark begins to fissure and flake outwards, producing the classic shaggy bark these trees are known for.  I have never heard anything about the fire resistance of this shaggy character of bark but I suspect it catches fire relatively well and it part of the reason these trees are not very fire resistant.  The shaggy bark is so easily recognizable and memorable that once told, even a child can easily identify the tree.  The flaky bark also is quite useful as a hiding place for insects and a roosting location for bats.  The fact that many bugs hide among the shaggy bark benefits many species of insect loving birds that search out the flakes and crevices for dinner.  Shagbark hickory is such an important bat roosting location that when mature shagbarks are logged a bat population can nearly disappear.  Some birds, such as the brown creeper, also nest under bark flakes.  Humans also prior to 1900 or so utilized the inner bark to produce a yellow dye.  Today, a few people in the east boil the bark with sugar in a secret process to produce shagbark hickory syrup which some claim puts maple syrup to shame. 

The shaggy bark of this hickory provides homes for many insects as well as some birds and bats.  

Around 40 years of age the shagbark begins to produce larger mast crops.  Large mast production occurs every one to five years depending on spring weather conditions.  Animal populations typically fluctuate along with large oak and hickory mast years.  In years with large mast production there is a large amount of food to go around for deer, bear, turkey, woodpeckers, ducks, and jays.  As a result these animals will often produce many young and the population will grow.  Years with low mast crops will result in little food allowing fewer wildlife offspring to survive therefore causing populations to shrink.  Though inconsistent in production and causing the rise, fall and rise again, in many animal populations, the overall benefit of these mast producing trees is huge.  Other trees, such as maples, produce huge numbers of seeds every year but benefit wildlife populations little in comparison of the oaks and hickories. 
The hickory can continue to grow and produce mast until about 200 years of age, after that most trees begin to decline.  Maximum lifespan is likely between 200 and 300 years.  At these old ages the hickory has become a tall straight tree of 70 to 80 feet tall.  Canopy width is typically about half or less of their height.  At this stage in life the shagbark has become a stately tree.  The long flakes of shaggy bark make these trees presence in the woodland clear.  Dark colored and straight trunks with their beautiful dark green foliage make these trees stately columns.  In spring these leaves burst forth from large scarlet colored leaf buds.  In fall the bright yellow leaves are a strong contrast against the more drab yellow and reds of neighboring oaks.  Though smaller, shorter lived, and less common than the oak, the hickory is a cornerstone tree to Midwestern and Eastern woodlands.  It is unfortunate it often takes a backseat to oaks being it is such a magnificent tree in itself.  

Life of a Hickory Tree Part 2

A yellow Hickory leaf.

Not only are hickory nuts sought out by wildlife, humans also have partook in the gathering of these nuts.  Though hickories were less common than oaks in Midwestern and Eastern wooded areas they still were an important food source for Native Americans.  Being oaks and hickories often grow right alongside each other I am sure hickory nuts were often gathered with acorns in the fall.  Both fall from trees at approximately the same time.  Even today hickory nuts are one of the most popular types of tree nuts eaten.  The pecan comes from a hickory tree closely related to the shagbark.  While many people claim that shagbarks produce a nut that tastes superior to the pecan, the shagbark unfortunately is an inconsistent producer.  Pecans are produced consistently year after year while shagbark nuts are produced in an abundance only every few years or so.  Being farmers don’t like to wait a few years to obtain a harvest, the pecan quickly dominated agriculturally.  So the next time you eat pecan pie or pralines remember the hickory they grew on.  Other hickory trees also produce nuts however, none of them taste anywhere near as good as the pecan or shagbark.  The pignut and bitternut hickories produce nuts that taste about as good as their names sound.  I have tasted some before and couldn’t tolerate the taste for more than a few seconds. 

Hickory nuts.

Ideally, the lost hickory nut will find itself in a disturbed location such as along a forest edge, a recently burned area or in a forest clearing where larger canopy trees have recently fallen or been logged.  While hickories do tolerate some shade, they prefer lots of sun, so recently disturbed areas are preferred.  Typically, oaks will invade an area before hickories do but, if an area has a lower level of disturbance, frequently hickories will closely follow the oaks in becoming established.  The Shagbark Hickory is the most common type of hickory of the oak-hickory forest.  While this hickory is tolerant of most soil types it does not do well in wet soils and prefers the drier soils.  So ideally the nut will be cached in mesic to dry soil.  Once here, the seed must be exposed to cold winter temperatures before it will germinate.  After exposure to winter cold however, soil moistened by melting snow and warmer temperatures cause the seed to rapidly germinate.  Immediately at germination, the seed puts all of its energy into developing a thick strong taproot.  This taproot can be several inches long before any green shoots sprout above ground.  But once green sprouts do appear, light harvested through photosynthesis is rapidly converted into energy to grow this taproot.  Over the lifespan of this tree, this taproot will be the primary root from which smaller roots venturing outward.  As a result, hickories are considered one of the sturdiest trees of the forest.  The hickories, life philosophy, at least for the first several years, is root before shoot; this is similar to the oak.  This results in an extremely slow growing tree and often other trees out-compete hickories by shading them out.  Amazingly, even slow growing oak trees outpace the hickory.  But slow growth emphasizing a strong taproot builds a well established, durable tree with high quality wood.  Within the prairie to forest transition, wind and drought are common problems that must be overcome for survival.  The great strength hickories gain from deep root to high limbs allows them to survive strong winds with firm anchoring, strong stature, and deep probing in search of hidden soil moisture.

Even though hickories are not well adapted to brush or grass fires like this one, young hickories still can sprout back after the fire.

Establishing a strong taproot not only overcomes drought and wind, it overcomes another factor common to the prairie to forest transition: fire.  Fires are most common in fall and spring.  In the fall, low intensity ground fires can disturb an area, clearing competing vegetation, and making it an ideal location for a hickory seedling to establish itself.  In spring, fire can be much more dangerous to hickory sprouts by killing them.  Hickory seedlings are also targets for grazing animals such as the white tail deer.  However, if a hickory sprout or seedling is killed by fire or eaten, the well established root can rapidly resprout.  Once resprouted after fire, competing vegetation has been burned away, and the young hickory can rapidly grow without competition.  This ability to resprout maintains itself until the tree is 20 or so years old.  At this point, fire will more likely kill the tree and the root will not be able to resprout.  Hickories do not have the thick fire-resistant bark upland oaks do.  Their bark is rather thin and is easily damaged by fire, so hickories can only establish themselves in woodland areas that are burned less frequently.  While oaks can survive ground fires about every two to ten years, hickory forests can only survive low intensity fires every twenty or more years.  For this reason, hickories are commonly found in slightly moister areas that have lower fire frequencies. 

Life of a Hickory Tree Part 1

Oak-Hickory Forest found in Eastern Iowa.  The red trees are oaks and the yellow trees Shagbark Hickory.

This is the first of a four part series on the Shagbark Hickory tree of the Oak-Hickory Forest found in the Midwestern and Eastern United States.  It is sort of a continuation of the Life of an Oak blogs posts from last fall.  

In upland Oak-Hickory forests oaks draw all the attention and excitement.  Typically, oaks are larger and more abundant, but it takes hickory trees to make an Oak-Hickory forest of course.  Hickories have very similar life histories when compared to oaks of the Eastern and Midwestern United States, and this is exactly why oaks and hickories are closely associated.  The hickory however, is more of a forest species and indicates another step in transition from prairies more common to the west, to forests more common to the east.  In the Midwest, where this prairie to forest transition takes place, the Shagbark is the most common hickory of this forest type.  When first settled in the mid-1800's the Shagbark was an extremely minor tree in oak savannas but more common in oak woodlands, especially in slightly moister areas where fires burned less frequently.  Settlers made quick use of the hickory trees, chopping them down and using them to build strong tools and for burning.  Savanna and woodland oaks however, were often too large to cut down with ordinary 1800's era tools but the smaller hickories were much easier to cut and process.  For this reason, and because they were less common in the first place, hickories vanished far before oaks did.  As a result, hickories may be in lower proportions even today in oak forests.  Today however, I have seen an abundance of young hickories in oak forests, making me think their populations are growing in some areas.  Fire suppression in the modern era may be contributing to this increase of hickories as well as a normal repopulation of areas where hickories historically were completely eliminated by logging. 

Life as a nut

For hickories, life begins with what most of us would consider a nut.  Scientists however tell us that hickory nuts are not in-fact nuts, rather they are fruit.  Let me explain.  First of all, a fruit is any plant structure that contains seed.  Nuts on the other hand are simply a large dry seed enclosed in a dry shell.  While the hickory does have a large dry seed enclosed in a dry shell, early in its life this nut is enclosed in fleshy, or should I say fruity, plant material.  As the seed matures this fleshy container hardens into a dense woody shell that even the most pesky of squirrels can't penetrate.  Traditional ideas of succulent sweet fruit does not fit the hickory nut fruit.  This dense husk like flesh protects the hickory seed extremely well as it grows on the tree through summer.  However, as if to say, "you can eat me when I'm ready," the thick husk begins to split into four sections once maturity is reached in early fall.  Breaking of the husk happens as the fruit dries out, just before or just after it falls from the tree.  Once the husk splits, the hickory seed, or nut, is no longer safe.  For our purposes here, we will refer to the hickory fruit as a nut.  Which despite what scientists say, still seems to make the most sense.

Some Hickory fruits, or nuts.

In a similar way to the upland oak, the upland hickory begins its life as a nut.  Mother hickories send their progeny off with a simple quick drop from canopy to forest floor.  Once on the ground with the husk split open, hickory nuts don't move much except for maybe a short roll downhill.  Here, the nuts become a coveted food source.  In most years, these predators will quickly find and consume nearly every nut produced by the mother hickory.  However, every few years or so, such an abundance of nuts are produced that there are many left over.  In these years of abundant mast (nut) production predators are overwhelmed but still typically locate nearly all the seeds that fall from the tree.  However, instead of consuming the nuts immediately, certain forest creatures cache the abundance throughout the forest.  Deer, turkey, and bears all immediately eat hickory nuts in hopes of fattening up for winter.  Other predators such as squirrels, chipmunks, Bluejays, and woodpeckers will gather seeds, hiding them in caches throughout the forest and new locations outside of the forest.  These caches of nuts are then to be consumed later in winter when other food sources are scarce.  Woodpeckers will most often cache large amounts of seeds in tree cavities where they will easily be relocated.  Squirrels, jays, and chipmunks will hide seeds by burying them in many caches just below the soil surface, then attempt to relocate them later in the winter.  Amazingly, most of these hidden caches will be relocated and eaten.  A very tiny percentage of nuts actually survive the initial scavenging of forest creatures.  In good mast production years many however, will be lost and never be recovered.  Then, once lost, nuts find themselves in an ideal location, hidden away from predators, protected from the elements, planted and ready for germination.

Blue Jays commonly cache large seeds including the hickory nut.

How to Grow an Avocado: Grocery Store Produce Section Plants

If you were to go out and buy fruit trees it could cost you quite a bit of money, that is, if you could find them.  Fruit trees can be quite difficult to come by and if you do, they are expensive.  But, if you are a little adventurous you can purchase fruits from the grocery store produce section, plant the seeds and find out what happens.  Of course, this will take a little patience and an experimental mind-frame but a little work and a little money can produce a lot of interesting plants.  Not only that, plants grown from grocery store produce can teach you a lot about cultivating plants.  If you want to change your brown thumb into a green thumb, try your hand at growing seeds you find in grocery store produce.  There are probably a couple dozen different plants you can grow from the grocery store but today we will be talking about the avocado.

Avocados are relatively new to the supermarket, especially in the north.  They have been around a long time though in Florida, Texas, and California.  They aren't as ubiquitous as the banana but with a little searching most grocery store produce sections will turn up a small display.  Sometimes grocery store avocados can be a little pricey, say a dollar or more per fruit, but that is nothing compared to the price of purchasing a tree or the great experience you will get trying to grow it yourself.  Once you buy the avocado the first thing you have to do is eat it.  Typically this isn’t very hard being most people love avocados.  And these fruits are extremely healthy for you with healthy unsaturated fats, fiber, and lots of vitamins.  Studies have shown that avocados decrease cholesterol levels and possibly have anti-cancer effects.  If you don’t want to eat your avocado you can simply cut it open and take the seed out.  Once you have the seed, clean it off well and let it dry for a day or so. 

An avocado seedling.  Note the seed planted partially under the surface.

After drying, bury about three-quarters of the seed in some sort of soil.  The rounded side of the seed should be buried and the more pointed one-quarter end of the seed above the soil.  Keep the seed in a relatively warm location and make sure the soil stays moist.  Then wait, it may take up to two months for the seed to germinate.  I have achieved about a 50% germination rate this way.  There are many other ways to germinate avocado seeds which include wrapping the seed in wet paper towels or letting the round end soak in water.  These other methods have been far less successful for me. 

Once you do germinate a seed you will have to be patient again.  If you want fruit you will likely have to wait five or more years.  Avocados also do not tolerate temperatures much below freezing so if you live where it freezes you will have to grow it inside.  Avocados make nice house plants but if you want it to bear fruit it will need lots of light.  

Do Plants Breathe? How do Plants Breathe?

Plants breathe quite the opposite of the way we breathe.  They do breathe though, and they do it through tine holes called stomata located on their leaves.

Oops, I thought I posted this on Monday.  But here you go, better late than never!

It’s common knowledge that humans and animals inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide in a process called respiration.  A lot of people also know that plants do just the opposite, “inhaling” carbon dioxide and “exhaling” oxygen, in a process called photosynthesis.  As a result plants and animals cycle oxygen and carbon dioxide between each other, one producing a waste that is used by the other and so on.  Obviously, animals breath through their mouths and nostrils but the way plants breath is far less obvious.  Nothing on a plant resembles a mouth or nose in the way animals breath.  And if we look at the chemical reaction for photosynthesis and respiration we will see they are sort of opposites, or reflections, to one another.  What one produces the other consumes.  So because of the differences we should expect totally different ways of breathing between the two.

Photosynthesis

Water + Carbon Dioxide + Light → Sugar + Oxygen

Respiration

Sugar + Oxygen → Carbon Dioxide + Water

Stomata are the round holes in the photo above.  This is a microscopic image of a fingernail polish peel taken from a leaf surface.  Most plants open these during the day in order to breathe.  Only cacti and agaves open them at night to breathe

The only way to find the structures through which plants breathe is by searching microscopically.  Very simply, by painting a square inch or so of a leaf with clear fingernail polish, then peeling it off and viewing it under a microscope we should be able to find the stomata, which are tiny microscopic holes through which plants breathe.  The dried fingernail polish retains the cellular imprint of the leaf surface so when viewed under a microscope every structure on the leaf surface can be seen.  On the fingernail polish peal, the stomata appears as a tiny hole with two crescent shaped cells on either side. These crescent cells are known as guard cells being they open and close the stomata in order to let “breathing” to occur or not, and to preserve water.  Stomata can be found on any green surface of a plant, but typically are located in the highest concentrations on the underside of leaves.  Location on leaf undersides prevents exposure to the sun which helps prevent excess water loss through the stomata.  

Different types of plants have different patterns and forms of stomata.  Most trees have lots of relatively small oval stomata evenly spaced all over their leaves.  Desert trees and shrubs generally have fewer stomata to conserve water.  Corn and other grasses often have more rectangular stomata organized in rows along vessels.  Cacti have relatively few round stomata located in pits, but they are huge compared to other plants.  Types and shapes of stomata generally depend on how much water a plant has available and its general physiology.  Plants with lots of stomata have lots of water while plants with fewer stomata have less water.  If you have a microscope try making a fingernail polish peal to view the stomata, it takes a few tries but after that becomes extremely easy. 

Here is a website with more details on how to do this experiment:  Stomata Experiment

Sorry, I completely forgot to update the blog on Monday.  I became so busy with writing things up for this site that I thought I posted something new!

Miracle Under the Oaks

Oak woodland where management practices similar to what is discussed in the book "Miracle Under the Oaks" have been implemented.

Recently, I read William Stevens’ book “Miracle Under the Oaks.”  This is an absolutely fantastic book of the scientific drama a group of non-scientists experienced as they learn how to, and restore prairies and oak savannas along the Chicago river.  Beginning in the late 70’s, Steve Packard lead a group of volunteers to restore the tallgrass prairies in north east Illinois.  These volunteers were composed of ordinary citizens who really had no idea how to restore a prairie.  Carpenters, doctors, pharmacists, people from all walks of life with no formal scientific background, self educated themselves and learned through trial and error how to restore the prairie.  As things began to pickup with the restoration projects, the general public and scientists began to take notice, becoming increasingly involved.  In the process of prairie restoration the volunteers rediscovered and helped define the Midwestern oak savanna, an ecosystem that once encompassed 30 million acres during pre-settlement time but today only 0.02% remains.  As a result, a movement has begun where thousands of acres of tallgrass prairie oak savannas are being researched and restored throughout the Midwest today.  This ecological restoration movement has not been isolated to oak savannas however, many other similar movements are taking place throughout the world in many different ecosystems as diverse as deserts to grasslands to forests.  Similar to the story in this book, these restorations are largely spearheaded by ordinary people without scientific backgrounds.  These ordinary people work together with the scientific community and often become experts in some portion of these projects.  Here is a great quote from the book showing how ordinary people can become valuable experts in a scientific subject through experience and self education:

“...I think there’s a lot of knowledge out there we haven’t taken advantage of.  One of the things that bothers me is the degree of arrogance you see among the so-called scholars and researchers who have gotten the notion that they have all the answers and who often look down with disdain at people who are just walking encyclopedias of bits of knowledge.”  Allen Harvey in Miracle Under the Oak

So the average non-scientist can become through self education and experience a sort of lay-scientist.  Where these types of people work together with the scientific community huge strides can be made in restoration of damaged ecosystems and habitats.  I truly believe common people can become experts on a subject if they have the desire to.  Formal education does not need to limit this, though it can help.  Formally educated scientists will always play a major role in science but the informal, lay-scientist expert can and should be playing a much larger role in science.  Yes, the application of lay-scientists will be different but their overall roll can and should be an important one in many areas of science.  The lay-scientist often has better access to land for ecological work and is not limited by availability of grant money.  They do it because they love it.  I love to encourage people to pursue things they love through self or formal education and become an expert of some type, the results are often amazing.  

Here is a link to one of the preserves Steve Packard’s group worked on:

Somme  Preserve

More information on Midwestern oak savannas:

http://oaksavannas.org/

Red oak leaves and acorn.

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire: What Ever Happened to this Christmas Tradition?

The American Chestnut.  Whatever happened to the American tradition of, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."????

Everyone knows how the song goes, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."  But how many people really have roasted chestnuts over an open fire for Christmas?  I can't think of a single person.  Of course nuts are part of Christmas tradition today as we can find walnuts, pecans, almonds, pistachios, and of course the corresponding famed nutcrackers in stores.  Chestnuts also can be occasionally be found but these are always the Chinese variety as opposed to the traditional American variety.  It has been said that roasting chestnuts on an open fire was such a common tradition in the eastern United States that its distinctive smell could be found throughout towns in the east this time of year.  Part of this was because the American Chestnut tree was extremely abundant prior to the early 1900's.  But no more.  So what happened to this once nearly universal American tradition?  The answer can be found in the plight of the American Chestnut beginning in 1904.

The Asian chestnut trees have grown for millenniums with chestnut bark fungus, resulting in strong resistance.  American trees, however, were never exposed to this fungus and therefore could not easily survive infection.  Beginning in 1904 the first american tree infected with the bark fungus was found in the Bronx Zoo.  The disease had been accidentally transported to the United Stated from Asia on an imported Chinese Chestnut tree.  After the initial infection in the Bronx, the disease spread rapidly through air-born fungal spores.  American Chestnut trees were killed by the billions.  The disease quickly became known as chestnut blight, and by the early 1940's had made the american chestnut tree exceedingly rare.  During this 40 or so year span the chestnut tree also was aggressively logged in forest areas and cut down in residential areas.  This aggressive removal of trees was done simply because it was thought they were all going to die anyway.  As a result, the blight made this once abundant tree has today been wiped out from the landscape and with it, the tradition of roasting chestnuts at Christmas time.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

But there is hope for the return of the chestnut tree and therefor the roasting chestnuts at Christmas.  While it may appear that the American Chestnut is extinct, a handful of small areas with surviving trees have been discovered.  It has been estimated that less than 100 have survived that are greater than 24 inches in diameter. Many more, but still not a lot, survive as roots in the ground that send up sprouts that never reach more than a few inches in diameter before the blight kills them.  If it were not for the aggressive logging of chestnut trees in response to the blight many, but not a lot, more likely would have survived.  Unfortunately, some of these surviving trees could likely still be killed by the blight.  Fortunately, however, many of these survivors likely are resistant to the blight and can be propagated to reintroduce and repopulate chestnut trees in eastern North America.  Geneticists and plant breeders are also working to identify and place genes that are resistant to the blight into American Chestnuts.  They are using both the resistant Chinese chestnut and the surviving American Chestnuts to find genes and breed new resistant breeds of American Chestnuts.  Many non-scientists who are interested gardeners, naturalists, and landscapers are taking a large part in this though aiding scientists in breeding, growing, observing, and finding resistant chestnut trees.

Check out the American Chestnut Foundation for more information on efforts to restore this species:

http://www.acf.org/

Fifty or so years ago we may have thought that the American Chestnut was extinct, or at least doomed to extinction.  Today however, there is great hope for the tree.  While still possible, it is unlikely that the tree will not go extinct.  We can currently say it really can't get much worse for this species and recovery is a very viable option.  Only time will tell, and as with most trees it will take a long time to grow these trees to see if they are able to grow and resist the blight.  Our efforts as humans often result in environmental destruction as we see with the american chestnut.  But the american chestnut also shows that hopefully, our careful efforts can also restore and benefit the natural world.  And there is great hope that song words, "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" can once again be experienced by Americans.  Merry Christmas!