Trees in Peril – Saving Imperiled Species with The Nature Conservancy

BY Jerry Monkman
IN Conservation, EcoPhotography, Photo Trips, Video

February 12, 2024
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Eastern hemlock trees, Tsuga canadensis, killed by hemlock woolly adelgid (insects) in New York's Mohonk Preserve. — Eastern hemlock trees, Tsuga canadensis, killed by hemlock woolly adelgid (insects) in New York’s Mohonk Preserve. Shot on assignment for The Nature Conservancy.

Meeting the scientists working to save our trees.

In June, 2023, I spent five days with writer Eric Aldrich from The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Ryan Smith, my Reel Quest Films partner, traveling New Hampshire to Vermont, New York, and Connecticut. Our mission was to capture the still photos, video, and information needed to tell the story of the Nature Conservancy’s efforts to to save several North American trees species that are at risk of going extinct due to invasive pests and pathogens: American elm, Eastern Hemlock, multiple ash species, and American beech.

Nature Conservancy scientist Tammara Van Ryn researching Green ash trees, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, in a forest in Willsboro, New York.

We met scientists testing the viability of disease-resistant elms in Vermont, tagging healthy hemlock and ash trees in the Adirondacks, searching for healthy trees in pest-ridden forests in the Catskills, and sequencing DNA from healthy trees in a lab at the University of Connecticut. Scientists like TNC’s Tammara Van Ryn (above) are also developing strategies and mobile apps to crowdsource information about trees with the help of citizen scientists.

Trees are dead and dying

Emerald ash borer (beetle) gallery (lines created by feeding larvae) on a dead white ash tree, Fraxinus americana, in New York's Mohonk Preserve. — Emerald ash borer (beetle) gallery (lines created by feeding larvae) on a dead white ash tree, Fraxinus americana, in New York’s Mohonk Preserve.

It was sad to see how widespread the death of these trees were in some places, particularly in the Catskills region of New York. Almost every ash and hemlock tree we encountered there was either dead or infected with a pest that would kill it within a few years. We spent two days in New York’s Mohonk Preserve with researchers Jonathan Rosenthal and Radka Wildova of the Ecological Research Institute, who showed us many stands of dead and dying trees, but also managed to find at least one “lingering” ash during our visit. Lingering trees are those that appear to have survived a pest or pathogen, when all neighboring trees have died. These lingering trees may hold the clues that can save the species from extinction.

Jonathan Rosenthal and Radka Wildova of the Ecological Research Institute research eastern hemlock trees in New York's Mohonk Preserve. — Jonathan Rosenthal and Radka Wildova of the Ecological Research Institute research eastern hemlock trees in New York’s Mohonk Preserve. Shot on assignment for The Nature Conservancy.

Out of the woods and into the lab

After spending four days in the woods, we made the trip to the lab at the Institute for Systems Genomics at the University of Connecticut, to meet with Dr. Jill Wegrzyn, whose team is sampling the DNA of lingering trees. Armed with this DNA knowledge, scientists can attempt to create strains of these tree species that are resistant to the threats that are devasting current populations. We also visited a farm in Benson, Vermont, where the Nature Conservancy’s Gus Goodwin manages a test plot of American elm saplings that have been developed using disease-resistant DNA strains.