
The Quest to Restore American Elms: Nearing the Finish Line - ohjeez
https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/08/09/quest-restore-american-elms-nearing-finish-line/
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gph
Folks might also be interested in the effort to bring back the American
Chestnut tree; [https://www.acf.org/](https://www.acf.org/)

It was similarly taken out by a fungus brought over from the old world. They
are attempting to backbreed in resistance from an Asian species of chestnut,
and it appears to be going well so far.

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nobodyorother
The only example I've ever seen of American Chestnut is in the North Chagrin
Reservation Nature Center. It's amazing wood, it almost glows, even 80+ years
after construction:

[https://www.google.com/maps/place/North+Chagrin+Nature+Cente...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/North+Chagrin+Nature+Center/@41.5616857,-81.43592,2a,75y,11.44h,85.26t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLFTrfB2C16wuU4ZOvxlLFw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x883100caac3c8a75:0x6102ef1553e68bb0!8m2!3d41.5628987!4d-81.4330531?hl=en)

If you go there, you can read the plaque describing the building and the loss
of the chestnut which is now, strangely, between the bathrooms:

[https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5617153,-81.4357392,2a,75y,3...](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5617153,-81.4357392,2a,75y,33.31h,91.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_ARfogbx8u67g4rA6-14yw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en)

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mark-r
I spent my childhood in a Minneapolis neighborhood where 100-foot Elms lined
the streets, making a canopy from both sides of the street - the umbrella
shape of the Elm coupled with its size makes a unique landscape. It was truly
glorious, and I'm glad at the possibility of future generations experiencing
this.

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maxerickson
Exciting that they have varieties that are resistant.

I don't think that is the finish line though. The finish line is decades in
the future when there are mature trees in many of the forests that lost their
elm to the disease.

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metalliqaz
The Elm is a magnificent tree. When humans get enough tolerant strains
together that they start breeding new strains in the wild, the trees will take
it from there.

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maxerickson
That would be a very long process. The natural range is vast:

[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ulmus_americana_rang...](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ulmus_americana_range_map_2.png)

Any effort to really restore it will require establishing thousands of
resistant colonies.

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24gttghh
Then let this be the first step among many thousands.

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jotato
So can we focus on the Ash and Walnut trees now? Please?

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dsfyu404ed
Think baby steps. Getting NYC/Albany to remove some of the legislation that
prevents similar efforts there would be another nice direction to pivot.

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mark-r
I worry that their testing regime is only getting half the viable trees. Being
resistant to the beetle would be just as effective as being resistant to the
fungus, but their testing bypasses the beetle entirely.

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metalliqaz
Is there an elm that is already resistant to the beetle? Because if not, they
have nothing to start from.

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mark-r
They're starting with trees that have survived somehow. It's hard to know if
those trees survived due to fungus resistance or beetle resistance or just
plain luck.

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eesmith
We know their offspring are (sometimes) resistant to the fungus. From the
article:

> When the tiny elms reach 1 inch in diameter, the injections begin—every
> single sapling gets a shot of the two strains of DED. “That is the moment of
> truth,” says Marks. “We can tell in a couple of weeks whether they will be
> disease resistant.

Since they have a higher success rate than elm trees in the wild, we can infer
that their parent trees were likely resistant to the fungus.

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Alex3917
Let's be real here, how are these things at growing morels?

