Mystery Disease kills off Aspen Trees
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sep 14, 7:34 PM EDT
*Mystery Disease kills off Aspen Trees*
LOGAN, Utah (AP) -- Aspen trees have been dying off, leaving dwindling
numbers of the white-barked fixture of the Western mountain landscape.
Nobody is quite sure why.
More than 100 researchers gathered at Utah State University this week
for a two-day conference called "Restoring the West: Aspen Restoration."
The trees reproduce with a wide root system, that spawns other trees
nearby. Even if the parent tree dies, the surviving root system can
support new trees.
U.S. Forest Service researcher Wayne Shepperd said in some Colorado
stands, the entire root networks have perished.
"If we're losing roots," Shepperd said, "that's going to change the
amount of aspens on the landscape."
The researchers are trying to figure out why aspens, native to the
higher elevations of the region, have been dying.
In addition to ecological diversity and the aesthetics of an aspen grove
on a quiet mountainside, the trees also affect watersheds. With the
decrease in aspens, conifers are encroaching on aspen territory.
"There may be significant loss of water resources that could be coming
out of these watersheds," said Ron Ryel, a Utah State University
researcher on wildland resources.
Researchers have found differences between the sizes of snowpacks near
aspens and conifers, which can affect how much water is available for
use in the summer.
Utah has lost an estimated 50 percent of its aspen population since
North America was colonized, Ryel said. And the decline runs along the
Rocky Mountains from Arizona to Alberta, Canada.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com