Letters.

MORE ON BIG TREES

editor: In regards to your Spring issue of the National Register of Big Trees 2002-2003, you have listed on page 19, [under] American Chestnut (Castenee denteta), a tree in Carson, Washington.

This tree has been examined by Dr. Fred Hebard, the American Chestnut Foundation's staff pathologist, using leaves as the critical factor in determining authenticity.

Enclosed are data supporting the determination of the tree to be a European chestnut.

William Behuniak

Kingston, New York

Editor's note: We have forwarded Mr. Behuniak's information on to our Big Tree Coordinator for Washington. If accurate, the tree will be dethroned.

Deborah Gangloff: I got the new magazine issue today, and it is great! I am very much looking forward to the new series on public television with Jeff Meyer. As much as it will bring a lot of history to viewers everywhere, there is nothing like being there--which I intend to do as much as possible. Keep up the good work.

Bart Tolbert

Via e-mail

editor: I have just read the fantastic article: "Lone Star Elite" by Whit Bronaugh in the latest version of American Forests (Spring 2002). Wow--what a superb story and excellent photographs.

Y'all done Texas proud! Thanks!

James B. Hull

State Forester

College Station, Texas

DON'T CUT THAT TREE

Tree Doctor: You have probably gotten this response before, but I hope that the next time you are asked about the use of wood from a live tree that produces too much fruit you will suggest alternatives to removal. Florel, and other available products, prevent the formation of fruit while allowing the tree to continue providing the multiple benefits that trees are good for. This IPM solution is what AMERICAN FORESTS advocates on a dally basis in other circumstances. Radical surgery is not necessarily the answer to itchy skin and might not be the answer to nuisance plants.

Todd M. Bolton

Manager, Natural Resource Protection, Fairfax Co. Park Authority

Fairfax, Virginia

AN ERROR IN HISTORY

editor: Re: Saratoga Black Locust, page 26, in your American Forests' Historic Tree Nursery catalogue, we find an outstanding error. It was the British who were low on supplies and were forced to surrender to the colonists on October 17, 1777 ... not the other way around.

Our history cannot be changed once it occurs. Only ignorance and attitudes can change which perpetuates falsehoods. We must keep our American history truthful.

Thank you for letting me clear up this example of revisionist history.

Sanford Shelton

Equinunk, Pennsylvania

WILDFIRE CONTRADICTIONS?

editor: Your article, "Beyond the Fireline" (Spring 2002) appears to contradict the technical paper, "Effects of Fuels Treatment on Wildfire Severity," Philip N. Omi, PhD, and Erik J. Martinson, Research Associate, Western Forest Fire Research Center, Colorado State University, submitted to the Joint Fire Science Program Governing Board, March 25, 2002.

George Duda

Via e-mail

RELEAF FOR WILDFIRES

Dehorah Gangloff: This letter is to express my appreciation to AMERICAN FORESTS for providing funding for a tree planting project on state trust lands managed by the Montana DNRC. Last week, our foresters and contractors planted 12,700 pine seedlings on land burned by the Blodgett Canyon Fire in 2000.

The toll of 2000 wildfires is still being measured, but the true extent of the impacts of that summer on the natural resources--and the communities that rely on them-may never be fully known. What is known is that Nature is resilient and, with a little help from us, the forest is returning to reclaim Montana's blackened landscape.

AMERICAN FORESTS is truly about action. Please accept my gratitutde for the contributions your organization has made to our tree planting project this spring, and extend my thanks to your staff, corporate sponsors, and the private individuals whose financial support made the project possible. We are eager to partner with you again in the future.

Donald K. Artley

Forestry Division Administrator, Montana Dept. of Natural Resources and Conservation

PRUNE AFTER FROST DAMAGE?

Tree Doctor: I have n couple of 12-foot maples that were hit by a late frost when buds were about to pop. Now the top 2/3 of the trees have no leaves at all, although the bottoms are normal.

Should I prune back the bare top branches to stimulate growth?

Jeff Behm

Skillman, New Jersey

Generally, trees hit by late frosts do not suffer much permanent damage, and red maples are particularly sturdy fellows. It would take an extremely hard frost to kill back the branches to any extent, though the leaf buds would be more easily damaged. Give them until the first of July. The trees may yet produce leaves from the branches that were not killed. Then, if you're certain the branches are dead, prune them back to the first evidence of life. Apply a little extra fertilizer under the "drip line" of the crown, as forming new buds and growth will take an extra effort.

HOW OLD IS THAT TREE?

Tree Doctor: I have an old Lombardy black poplar tree in my yard. I measured the trunk and it is 161 inches or 13 feet 5 inches.

Is there a way to tell how old the tree is? My 82-year-old next-door neighbor has lived here all her life and she remembers the poplar being as big as it is now.

Kera Szwed

Mokena, Illinois

There is no way to tell the age of a tree without counting the annual rings, but exposing the annual rings is usually fatal. A forester could take an "increment boring" of the outer few inches and extract a core to count the rings and get the years of growth for that portion of the trunk. But that can't be considered standard for the life of the tree; most grow much faster--with much wider annual rings--when young. Maybe it's best to just call it "very old," or "well over 100 years old. "I believe you live in an area of very fertile soils. Very fast early growth on a poplar species would be expected, but to say exactly how fast it grew in its early years would be pure conjecture.

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