Trees on Maine Street Bulletin

September/
October 2009

Two people walking between two trees and with a bicyclist and two birds flying

Image of american elm tree.

American Elm
(Ulmus americana)
This native North American tree grows quickly when young, forming a broad or upright, vase-shaped silhouette, 80 to 100 feet high and 60 to 120 feet wide.

Trunks on older trees could reach to seven feet across. The six-inch-long, deciduous leaves are dark green throughout the year, fading to yellow before dropping in fall. In early spring, before the new leaves unfold, small, green flowers appear on pendulous stalks. These blooms are followed by green, wafer-like seedpods which mature soon after flowering. American Elm must be at least 15-years-old before it will bear seed. Trees have an extensive but shallow root system.

The crown spread is 50 to 70 feet and has a beautiful symmetrical, vase-shape canopy with a regular (or smooth) outline.

Once a very popular and long-lived (300+ years) shade and street tree, American Elm suffered a dramatic decline with the introduction of Dutch elm disease, a fungus spread by a bark beetle. Several disease resistant varietes are available, though they do not match the American elm in size and stature, they are worthy of use.

There were some bigger,
but none more beautiful,
with that nice straight trunk. It's been cut about 13 times because of disease, but it was such a beautiful tree.

-~ Frank Knight Of Herbie, a 110-foot-tall American elm tree on Route 88 in Yarmouth and the largest elm in New England.

Project Canopy
assists communities and nonprofit, grassroots organizations in building self-sustaining urban and community forestry programs with strong local support.

Maine Forest Service
Project Canopy

Planting and stewarding trees is one of the many strategies for addressing issues associated with climate change. The benefits ascribed to urban and community trees and forests include carbon storage and sequestration, removal of air pollution, surface air temperature reduction, and reduced building energy use. Community trees and forests have the potential to absorb large amounts of C02 that would otherwise contribute to climate change. Project Canopy provides assistance to Maine cities and towns interested in developing long-term and sustainable community tree programs that maximize and promote the benefits of trees and forests.

NATIONAL CLIMATE BILL UPDATE

On June 26, the House of Representatives passed landmark legislation that addresses the issues of global climate change. The bill titled the American Clean Energy Security (or "ACES") Act (H.R. 2454), is the first comprehensive climate bill to be considered by the House and includes many funding and policy provisions of surpassing importance for conservation including tree planting projects. The Senate is considering its own version of the legislation, but has yet to act.

MAPLE TREES INFESTED BY BEETLES

The Maine Forest Service has been deluged with requests for information about beetle infestation of maple trees. The Maine Department of Agriculture is a good resource to find information about the Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB). The site includes images that compare the Whitespotted Sawyer (WSS) and ALB. For a full exploration of other Maine pest threats please click here for the Maine Forest Service Invasive Threats web site.

WONDER OF WOOD FAIR

Join us for a celebration of Maine forests at the Wonder of Wood Fair, Saturday, September 19, 2009 from 10am – 3pm at the USM Sullivan Gym. This family-friendly, FREE event features performances from the Great Maine Lumberjack Show, chainsaw carving demos, educational workshops on Maine critters and birds for children, special guest appearance, and more! The Wonder of Wood Fair will be open to the public, FREE of charge, and will combine educational exhibits, informative displays, intriguing workshops, and activities for all ages! FMI contact: Kevin Doran, Natural Science Educator at the Maine Forest Service, phone 287-4988 or email kevin.doran@maine.gov.

COMMUNITY FOREST WORKSHOPS

A workshop for municipal officials, conservation commissioners, foresters and loggers, land trust members, and people interested in community forests will be held on October 16th in Bangor and October 23rd in Bath. The event will focus on how community forests can be acquired and managed to provide multiple benefits to town residents. A field trip to an area community forest will be part of the agenda. These workshops are sponsored by the Maine Association of Conservation Commissions, Maine Forest Service and Community Forest Collaborative. For registration information visit www.meacc.net.

YARMOUTH BRACES FOR HERBIE’S DEMISE

Herbie, a 110-foot-tall American Elm tree on Route 88 in Yarmouth is officially the largest elm in New England. Frank Knight, Herbie’s caretaker for more than 50 years and the town's current tree warden, Debra Hopkins, concluded that Herbie would have to come down. They have begun spreading the word so that people can visit Herbie one more time, maybe have their children's pictures taken with it. No firm date has been set, but Herbie will probably be cut down in early 2010.

IMPACT OF LANDSCAPE/TREES ON HOME VALUES

Recent research suggests that upgrading home landscaping does increase property value. Impacts of the quality of landscaping and percentage of tree cover on home prices were estimated from a sample of 75 home sales from 2003 to 2005. Estimates were derived using a regression of house sale price on house characteristics, landscape quality, and tree cover. Homes that improved landscaping from average quality to good or excellent quality increased selling price by 5.7 and 10.8 percent, respectively. Approximately 30 percent of the increase in sale value was accounted for by added tree cover. The results show that each $1.00 invested in upgrading an average landscape to excellent quality returns $1.35 in added property value.

SEARCH LAUNCHED FOR LARGEST U.S. TREES

Continuing a tradition begun in 1940, American Forests invites the public to help identify the largest of 861 species of trees for the 70th anniversary edition of The National Register of Big Trees. Following an extensive two-year review, 57 additional tree species are newly eligible for nomination and 22 species have been removed from the list for a
net increase of 35 species from the previous register published in 2008.

“You do not have to own the tree to nominate it. You merely have to locate and measure it,” said Deborah Gangloff, executive director of American Forests. “Large trees provide far more ecological and community benefits than small trees, which is another important reason why this has been a signature program of American Forests for more than half of our 134 years of conservation advocacy and tree planting.”

Big Tree nominations are due October 1st and can be made online where there are also measuring instructions and a list of current champions. These trees earn champion status through a weighted points system that combines height (in feet), circumference (in inches) and ¼ of the spread of the crown. The largest tree in the US is the "General Sherman" Giant sequoia. Located in California’s Sequoia National Park, the General Sherman is 274 feet tall, a crown spread of 107 feet and a circumference of 1020 inches and 1321 total points. It is also estimated to weigh more than 9 blue whales. The updated list of eligible species is online.

The AMERICAN FORESTS’ 2010 National Register of Big Trees, sponsored by The Davey Tree Expert Company, will be the most extensive, up-to-date catalog of the country’s biggest trees when released in April, 2010. With 57 new tree species to look for, enthusiasts should be more excited than ever to seek out potential new champions.
FMI contact: Margo Dawley, (202) 737-1944 ext.224

THINK BLUE MAINE

The ThinkBlueMaine partnership has a new web design which is more user-friendly and better organized, making the information contained on the site easier to find. A new section - the stormwater managers' toolbox - has been added as well. This page serves as a clearinghouse for stormwater outreach materials.

UP & COMING

USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area event calendar: www.na.fs.fed.us/urban/index.shtm

September

12
Reading the Forested Landscape, a lecture by Author Tom Wessels. New Forest Institute, Brooks, ME

18-21
ASLA Annual Meeting & Expo: Regenerating Places and People Chicago, Illinois. FMI email: nancy@asla.org

25-27
Common Ground Fair, Unity, Maine.

26
Women’s Tree Climbing Workshop, Arnold Arboretum, Boston, MA

29
Tree Time with Mike Dirr, UMass, Amherst

October

2
Tree Time with Mike Dirr, UNH, Durham, NH

4-7
SMA Annual Conference, Savannah, Georgia

4-11
Fryeburg Fair, Fryeburg, Maine