ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN
USA Today
Arlington; November 6, 1997
Elm has Deep Roots in Nation's Landscape
DENNIS CAUCHON
The American elm holds a place in the heart of many Americans that young people may not understand. Older Americans sometimes wept when century-old elms were reduced to stumps because of Dutch elm disease.
The American elm wasn't just a tree; it was often the tree, accounting for 80‰ of trees in many cities.
Milwaukee was typical. In the 1950s, the city had 200,000 elms along its streets and another 100,000 on private property. The city had replicated the same beautifully shaped elm tree, the Moline elm, and lined about 6,000 miles of streets.
"We thought it was too cold in Wisconsin for the elm bark beetle to survive. Well, our beetles wore fur coats," says retired city forester Bob Skiera.
In 1956, Dutch elm disease was found in 11 trees. The city launched all-out war to save its trees. It reduced its police and fire budgets to pay for the fight. It sprayed pesticides from helicopters to kill the elm bark beetle. It injected 60,000 trees with a toxin to fight the fungus. It ordered that sick elms be cut down immediately or the city would do it and bill the owner.
Milwaukee lost its fight.
The Dutch elm epidemic peaked in 1967 when 19,000 trees died. Today, only 20,000 elms survive.
"I'm an old guy," Skiera says. "I can't get over the loss. Each day I drive the streets, I see the elms that used to be."
Many universities have spent small fortunes to save their elms.
For generations, Harvard students have graduated outdoors under large elms in Harvard Yard. Despite a textbook effort at elm preservation, the number of American Elms in Harvard Yard has fallen from 500 to 250 over 20 years.
Penn State claims to have the largest stand of elms left in the country: 275 trees that line three blocks between the town of State College and the school's library.
Four employees spend half their time caring for the trees. Student protesters have perched in sick trees to prevent them from being cut down. The class of 1996 donated $125,000 to save the elms. Still, about 10 trees die every year.
Trinity College's school song is 'Neath the Elms (of My Dear Old Trinity). Until the 1970s, century-old elms formed a T on the Hartford, Conn., campus' historic "long walk." Now, ash trees line the walk.
"It just isn't the same," says school archivist Peter Knapp.
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See also:
The Great Elm ReturnsAllan McCollum / PARABLES
