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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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