Large Trees: Gail Zawacki

8/13/2019 Large Trees: Gail Zawacki

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http://witsendnj.blogspot.co.at/2011/11/freedoms-just-an

Wit's EndSaturday, November 26, 2011

Freedom's Just Another Word

AND OVERHEAD UP GREW INSUPERABLE HEIGHT OF LOFTIEST SHADE

CEDAR, AND PINE, AND FIR, AND BRANCHING PALM...

~ M ilton's description of the exotic treessurrounding the Garden of Eden in Paradise Lost Book IV.

The etc hing above, titled Larc hes at Dunkeld, depicts what is known as
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The Mother Tree. It was drawn by J.G. Strutt and published in his Sylva Britanica in 1825. When I first started writing to professionals totry to determine the cause of widespread, universal tree death, thereception I got was at best gentle patronization, at worst ridicule...andmostly, I was (and still am) ignored. Recently though, some foresters,scientists and ecologists have stopped the charade of denial, and aredocumenting the irrefutable fact that trees are demonstrably, in everylocation - whether in cities or remote forests - rapidly succumbing toany number of threats. As the articles I will link to later in this postmake clear, evidence from satellite and ground inventories is nowoverwhelming that, from one thing and another, trees all over the worldare headed towards extinction.

It remains to be determined, however, exactly WHY trees are dying. It'sa crucial distinction, because what, if anything can be done to slow (ifnot halt) this trend, depends upon the fundamental source of thedecline. If there is anything that can be done to postpo ne the collapse ofthe ecosystem as long as possible, we should do it regardless of howdifficult or how many sacrifices are required. Our supply of food and very survival hangs in the balance. In this post I will interspersephotographs, like the one above, that I have shamelessly stolen from the book I splurged on, at the giftshop when visiting Longwood Gardens.
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Frontispiece for Sylva Britannica by Jacob Strutt (1826)

"Meetings With Remarkable Trees" contains the photos and thoughts ofThoma s Pakenham, who was inspired to produ ce a record of livingancient trees following a storm that knocked d own several of his twohundre d year old beeches, and later a trip to a n irrevocably deforestedregion of China. Published in 1996, well befor e the rapid die-off began,it is mu ch more than just a glossy coffee table book, it is an eclecticcollecti on of history, anecdotes, literature, poe try, and above all, anexpress ion of passionate and profound love an d respect for trees...whichare, tru ly, a remarkable life form. Be sure to lo ok for the person in eachpicture too, for scale...because these trees are s o huge, it's easy to misspeople, dwarfed by their immensity. I'll start w ith an extended quotefrom hi s text about the next photo, so that the richness of the prose, as well as the photography, is apparent. This is th e awe-inspiring photo hechose f or the cover of the book:
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"XERXES' PLANE AT EMMANUEL

Handel's only comic o pera, SERSE , opens with the hero, Xerxes, sittingunder a large plane tre e singing:

Ombra mai fudi vegetabil cara ed amablesoave piu

(Never was made the shadeof a plantdear and lovingor more gentle)

The opera sank into well-deserved obscurity itself, but Handel rescuedthe tune and recycled it as his famous Largo .

He took the story of Xerxes and the plane tree from Herodotus. Thegreat king of Persia was marching to Sardis when he encountered amagnificent plane tree at Kallatebos near the crossing of the RiverMaeander. So delighted was he with its shade that he loaded it withgolden ornaments and arranged for a man to stay there as its guardianforever.
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Another plane, found here'What good did it do the tree?' asked a 3rd-century author, a killjoycalled Aelian. The great king had made a fool of himself, losing hisheart to a tree, hanging bangles on it and setting a guard over it asthough it were a lady of his harem.

The Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge do not share Aelian'spuritanical sentiments. They have indulged their pet oriental plane [ theirst one pictured above ] with half an acre of the Fellow's Garden, and

guard the tree uxoriously as did Xerxes.

Although still young - certainly not planted before 1802 - the tree hascovered the lawn with its curtain of ziz-zag branches, that sweep downto form 'layers', then rise again as new trees in their own right."

This brief clip from the opera is exquisitely tender and reverential:

rondi tenere e belledel mio platano amato per voi risplenda il fatotuoni, lampi, e procellenon vi oltraggino mai la ara pacene giunga a profanarvi austro rapace

(Tender and beautiful frondsOf my beloved plane treeLet fate smile upon youmay thunder, lightening and stormsNever bother your dear peaceNor may you be profaned by blowing winds)
http://coccinella-ladybug.blogspot.com/2009/10/plane-trees-ombra-mai-fu-handels-xerxes.html


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The champio n sessile oak at Croft Castle, Herefordshire - 37 feet ingirth

I hope if Mr. Pakenham ev er finds out I have posted his photos andquotes from his book he w ill accept it in the spirit of an homage ratherthan theft. His examples o f remarkable trees is a rare, perhaps uniquetestament to the tenacity a nd longevity of trees, which represents anillustrative correction to th e common misconception many people have- a mendacity which is per petuated by liars in the timber andagricultural industries and even government regulatory agencies - thattrees are dying because of old age. While I was waiting for the train totake me to play in the ban d at Occupy the Governor's Mansion last weekend, I got into a conv ersation with an elderly woman and I broughtup the subject of trees.
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I am always curious as to what, if anything, people have noticed. Imentioned to her that it seems as though there is an accelerating trendfor them to all be dying prematurely, and she observed that many ofthem are very old. But, I replied, most species can live for hundreds of years. Not any more! she replied, tartly. Yes, I agreed, not anymore...because of the pollution. That's right! she responded, withouthesitation or surprise.

THOU WERT A BAUBLE ONCE, A CUP AND BALL WHICH BABES MIGHT PLAY WITH;

AND THE THIEVISH JAY,SEEKING HE R FOOD, WITH EASE MIGHT HAVE PURLOINED

THE AUBURN NUT...~ William Cowper, The Yardley oak , 1791

Three centuries he grows, a nd three he stays,Supreme in state, and in thr ee more decays.

~ Dryden

Three hundred years growingThree hundred years livingThree hundred years dying.
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~ the life of an oak, according to an old saying.

The Fredville Oak, from Silva Britannica by J. G. Strutt, 1825

Defensive conservatives often take comfort in pointing out that it was Nixonwho signed the Clean Air Act and established the EPA. It's very simple whythe right wing was once more supportive...they had no idea at the time theypassed legislation protective of the environment that maintaining a trulypristine and healthy ecosystem would prove to be fundamentally incompatiblewith the endless "growth" they believe in as fervently as a religion - and thatecological sustainability would call into question the viability of an economicsystem based on property own ership and prot. As soon as it dawned on themthat there would be limits impo sed upon their ability to defer the staggeringcosts of pollution and climate c hange, environmentalism and science becamepoliticized. Extraordinary effo rts are still being made to render expensiveregulations unenforceable, and to disguise the true extent of the damage frompollution.
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An ancient oak at Birnam, branches propped by wooden crutches, in 1996. There's noperson to be seen,

but the tree is large enough for the author to take refuge from the snowstorm inside the

hollow trunk.

I will not be afraid of death and baneTill Birnam forest come to Dunsinane.

~ Shakespeare, Macbeth , Act V, Scene III

It occurred to me with sudden force that soon, we really will have nothing leftto lose, and then w e will learn what comes from that kind of freedom.

Following are my latest attempts to convince scientists, politicians and mediato look seriously a t the nitrogen cascade and the ozone it spawns, which isutterly out of contr ol, and destroying life itself. We'll start with a letter sentlast Tuesday to the folks who were interviewed in an article about forests dyingin northwestern U S:
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The Tullynally Oak Planted in 1745 by the author's predecessor seven generations ago

the first Baron LongfordTall est oak in Ireland at 109 feet [in 1995]

Dear Commissioner Goldmark, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Peterson, Mr. Welch,

Mr. Everett, and Mr. Stephenson :I am writing in reference to the s tory referenced in the subject line, about the

predicted dieback of forests in th e Northwest USA. Below is copied a letter Isent to the editor of the NYTime s, which refers to an article they publishedrecently indicating that trees are dying around the world , not only inthe Pacific Northwest. The scie ntists interviewed in that article attribute the
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global decline to climate change. However, although I quite agree that climatechange is eventually going to cause mass extinctions, it's clear to me that whatis killing them so quickly is in fact air pollution, which has been proven innumerous fumigation research, to encourage insects, disease and fungus.

The Fredville O ak [Kent, in 1994 one of the two largest Quercus robur]Known locally as "Majesty"

This existential threat pertains t o annual agricultural crops as well. Thebackground levels of troposphe ric ozone are inexorably rising, as precursorstravel across oceans and contine nts, causing signicant decreases in crop yieldand quality even in rural locatio ns. This places organic farmers at a distinctdisadvantage, since they cannot compensate with petroleum-based fertilizers,
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insecticides and fungicides.

This affect on vegetation is extensively documented from decades of scienticcontrolled experiments as well as eld observations, published in peer-reviewed literature and textbooks.

The Charleville Oak of King's County, IrelandOne br anch stretches 30 yards parallel to the ground

I think it's absolutely critical tha t experts such as yourselves alert the publicthat the major threat to trees and the ecosystem derives from ozone precursorsemitted from burning fuel and other industrial processes; and if we don't stop,famine will be the direct result. In terms of public policy, especially when
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considering logging as a remedy, which can't possibly do anything to reduceozone, it would be far more efcacious to educate people about the urgent needto conserve energy and transition to clean sources. It would be a disservice tovoters and readers of newspapers to withhold this well-known information.

Please feel free to conta ct me if you have any questions or thoughts on thistopic. Here is a link to t he "Basic Premise" page on my blog, Wit's End , whereI collect research and ph otos.

Sincerely,

Gail ZawackiOldwick, NJ

None of them has replie d yet. The letter to the NYT will follow but rst, agroup selection from the chapter, Trees of Liberty , of especially specialtrees...which have been historically associated with revolutions. Who knew?

#OCCUPYTREE!!!!
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14/51

O glorious France, that has burst out so; into universalsound and smoke; and attained the phryrgian cap of Liberty.

In all towns, trees of liberty also may be planted;

~ Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution , 1837

The Tolpuddle Martyrs under the Sycamore tree,and the government spy who reported them, in 1834
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1fX9F0tFIbA/Ts1s8Zx6DoI/AAAAAAAARLo/L8xCnqmNlQ4/s1600/26.jpg


15/51

The Martyrs' sycamore on the village green at Tolpuddle, Dorseta shrine and place of pilgrimage for the Left.

Under this tree was formed the first trades union in Britain.
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16/51

Another living revolutionary symbol: Kett's Oak at Wymondham

In the meantim e I met with but one instance where this goodly tree has been (in ourcountry)

abused to cove r impious designs, as was that Arch Rebel Kett, who, in the reign ofEdward VI

(becoming lea der of the fanatic insurrection in Norfolk) made an Oak (under thespecious name of

Reformation O ak) council house, and place of convention where he sent forth histraitorous edicts.

~ John Evelyn, Sylva , 1670

Here is my letter t o the Times:

Dear Dr. Swetnam , Dr. Field, Dr. Phillips, Mr. Anderegg, Dr. Munger, Dr. Six,Dr. Running, Dr. Crabtree, Dr. Kurz, Dr. Cleaves, Mr. Werden, Mr. Gillis andEditors of the Ne w York Times,
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17/51

The Clapton Ash, Clapton Court, Somerset, girth 29 feet

Several quotes from the article mentioned in the subject, and a follow-up blogpost by Mr. Gillis raise a question that none of you appear to have addressed;and I would greatly appr eciate your consideration. Here are the relevantquotes:

1. If this were happeni ng in just a few places, it would be easier to deny andwrite off, said David A. Cleaves, senior adviser for the United States Forest

Service. But its not. It s happening all over the place. Youve got to say, gee,what is the common elem ent ?
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18/51

Scots Pine in the Spey ValleyOne of the last of the great Caledonian Forest

2. A lot of ecologists li ke me are starting to think all these agents, like insectsand res, are just the pr oximate cause , and the real culprit is water stress

caused by climate chang e, said Robert L. Crabtree, head of a center studyingthe Yellowstone region. It doesnt really matter what kills the trees theyre

on their way out. The bi g question is, Are they going to regrow? If they dont,we could very well catas trophically lose our forests.
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19/51

The Holker Lime, probably planted early 18th C.It was t he fashion to plant Tila x vulgaris from the 17th C.

prized for it's formality when pruned

3. Aside from the satellite rec ord, what kind of evidence do we have of recent

forest loss? Mainly this: a oo d of reports about forest die-offs and die-backs are appearing in the scie ntic literature.
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20/51

A dance on the stump of an Oregonian Sugar tree, so named by

David Douglas, a botanist who explored the Umpqua river area in 1825

and introduced over 200 native American species to British gardens.

4. A count of such reports by Craig D. Allen of the United States GeologicalSurvey shows a relentless increase in recent years . In principle, that couldsimply reect rising interest in the subject on the part of scientists, but most of

the experts I talked to suspected that it represented a change in the reality on

the ground.
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21/51

This Douglas r, named for David Douglas who "discovered" it, is the talle st tree in

Britain, at 212'.

5. It seems to be just too wide spread to ignore , said Steven W. Runn ing,the University of Montana scie ntist..."
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22/51

Tulip tree at Kew , imported from America, where it can grow to 170'.

In a canoe made from a hollowed out tulip log, Daniel Boone set out to trav el

west.

6. That doesnt mean that ever y forest on earth is going to fall over dead, Dr.

Running continued. But it mean s were seeing an accelerated mortality pattern that we cant explain by the normal processes...."
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23/51

The Goodwood Ceda r of Lebanon planted in 1761. Because of England's mil d

climate,

many species from ha bitats all around the world thrive here. This specimen lo st

half of its six heads in the hurricane of October '87.

I agree completely that we are seeing a dangerous and accelerating trend in

forest mortality, and when I or iginally realized it was underway (in 2008) I

assumed that long-term water stress from climate change was the cause

underlying opportunistic disea se, insects and fungus, as postulated in the tw o

articles.
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24/51

Britain's tw o tallest hardwoods, London planes at Bryanston

However , I would like you to con sider that climate change is not (YET) the

primary culprit, because it does n ot adequately account for all the empirical,easily veriable facts, which are:
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25/51

The yews at Borrowdale, which has branches over 1,500 years old

But worthier still of note

Are those Fraternal Four of Borrowdale

Joined in one solemn and capacious grove

Huge trunks! and each particular trunk a growth

Of intertwisted bres serpentine

~ Wordsworth, 1803, Yew Trees

1. Young trees that are being sheltered, watered and irrigated in nurseries are

in the exact same poor c ondition as older trees growing in the ground.
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26/51

Sidne y's Oak in 1822, already hollow, and below, still clinging to life.

2. All trees of every age, spec ies and habitat exhibit classic and worsening

symptoms of exposure to air p ollution - and background tropospheric ozone is
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27/51

inexorably rising, as precursors are traveling across oceans and continents.

3. Annual agricultural crops and even ornamental summer owers grown in

enriched soil being watered in pots have the same stunted growth, reduced

yield and injured foliage as lo ng-lived trees now uniformly exhibit. For th at

matter, even aquatic plants tha t are always in water have marginal leaf bur n,chlorosis and necrosis.

4. It has been well-establishe d in extensive scientic research going back

decades that ozone is extreme ly harmful to vegetation, by causing both fol iar

and internal, physiological ch anges, such as reduced allocation of

carbohydrates to root develop ment. It has been demonstrated by many

investigations that plants expo sed to ozone are more likely to succumb toattacks from insects, disease a nd fungus; as well as be more vulnerable to

wind-throw and drought. Occ am's razor would seem to apply.
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28/51

A ginko at Kew Gardens, which arrived in 1762 from China, where it can live for

1,000 years

Ginko trace their lineage back 350 million years, before the dinosaurs.

I would go so far as to beg each of you to investigate the above four points,which I have personally observed up and down both East and and Weste rnUS coasts, and even in Costa Rica. Ozone is the giant elephant in the ro om;the Nitrogen Cascade h as been called the worst environmental disaster y ou've

never heard of. The "a cidication" of the atmosphere is eroding trees in

perfect parallel with the concurrent bleaching of corals in the ocean. Fr ankly I

do not understand why neither of the articles in the Times mentioned oz one

even once, since there i s a staggering amount of information on the topi c.

The Greendale Oak at Welbeck, drawn by J.G. Strutt in 1826. In 1724 the Duke of Portland

won a bet that he did not have an oak large enough to drive a carriage through.
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Foresters and atmospheric physicists and ecologists need to confront this

existential threat before we don't even have any more viable seeds, the quality,

viability and quantity of which i s waning. The public needs to understand that

a drastic curtailment of burning fuels is essential.

Thank you so much for your att ention. I would be most interested in any

responses, and delighted to answ er any questions. Here is a link to a video oftree dieback in New Jersey from the vantage of a hot air balloon, with a radiointerview about the cause.

Sincerely,

Gail Zawacki
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Dr. Bob Crabtree of Yellowstone Research actually wrote me back!! Here ishow the conversation went:

Hi Gail

Being an open-minded scientis t, I certainly recognize alternative explanations,especially key factors that inte ract with other causative agents. Furtherinvestigation of ozone effects are not within my wide range of researchinvestigations but I surely hop e you and.or others can gain funding. Do youhave access to just one overall paper that discusses the topic and provides asynthetic look at the empirical evidence? I would appreciate that. I havealways been interested in the c umulative/interactive effects of multiple factors. I believe it lies at the very hear t of our own species comprised immunesystems. Also, I dont think that, Occams razor is an appropriate way tocharacterize ozone effects any more than water stress or climate change. Its amulti-causal interactive system out there and simple, single causes just dontexist.

Thank you for your persistence and best of luck with your research andeducation.

Bob

Prince Buddha finds enlightenment under a Bo-tree.
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Dear Bob,

Thank you so much for your reply. To answer your question, no, there is notone paper that summarizes t he effects of ozone on vegetation - rather, there are dozens and maybe hundreds , and entire textbooks as well, not to mentionendless scientic advisory re views for regulatory agencies around theworld...but not one of them really explains how serious the problem is. It'salways described as being a problem for "sensitive" species, to which weshould respond by: funding more research, identifying more geneticallytolerant species, or developi ng protective chemicals. Anything but insist ondrastic reductions of the so- called "intractable" source of the problem,precursors from burning fue l. I wish there was someone who would undertake to delineate the existential th reat to vegetation of the rising background levels -that's why I write to scientis ts, journalists, and politicians, and why I collectlinks on my blog.
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The Crowhust Yew in 1994

The interior is hollow and has been tted with a table in the centre, and benchesaround.

This roof however, as it may be termed, has fallen in.

~ Bayley, History of Surrey , 1850Unfortunately, I am not trained as a scientist, and so I have no way to conductexperiments, let alone get funding! But perhaps precisely because I am nottrained in rigorous investigative techniques that underlie scientic reticence, Iam able to see the larger trend. Occam's razor does, actually, apply. Not oneperson who has questioned my theory has been able to explain (or evenbothered to try to explain) why young trees in nurseries, and potted plant beingwatered, have leaves with the exact degree of damage as older trees growing inthe ground. They cling to the explanation - even though there is no morescientic evidence for it than ozone, in fact there is none other than that noother explanation is considered - that drought and/or warming from climatechange is the main reason forests worldwide are "in decline". Whereas thereare numerous controlled fumigation experiments proving that ozone leads totree decline, and an increase in insects, disease and fungus, there are none thatI know of comparing water and temperature!


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The Little Porter Oak at WelbeckOf course I don't think drought and climate change aren't a fatal problem fortrees, I do. In fact I am quite su re that ultimately, we are headed for a massextinction from climate change alone, probably far sooner than even the mostdoomyist predict. But not quite this fast.

I understand what you are sayin g about there being no single cause. Buthonestly that's like saying there are many factors when a smoker gets lungcancer (which of course, the to bacco industry says). One excellent analogy isAIDS. When somebody with A IDS dies, we don't say they died of pneumonia.It's AIDS that killed them, the pneumonia just took advantage of an already

compromised immune system. It is the same with the insects, the disease andthe fungus. In some cases, they are invasive, but in many they are naturallyoccurring and the trees have si mply been overcome.
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This Yew at Much Marcl e is hollow inside. There are about 50 gargantuan yews in B ritainmostly in churchyards. When more than 30 feet in circumference, they are assumed to be

1,000 years old.
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The seasons bring the ower again,And bring the rstling of the ock,And in the dusk of thee, the clock

Beats out the little lives of men.

O, not for thee the glow, the bloom,Who changest not in any gale,

Nor branding summer suns availTo to uch thy thousand years of gloom.

~ Alfre d Tennyson, In Memoriam , Stanza II

Did you know that ozone, in additio n to damaging stomates in foliage andneedles, and entering the tissue caus ing physiological damage, actually eats away at the protective waxy surface coating on leaves and needles?
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Well, I won't bother you any more. I think it's a shame that people are willingto accept all the collateral damage - cancers and asthma, dying trees - so wecan continue with our proigate consumption. If you know of anyone whomight want to pursue this, please fell free to share my blog or email addresswith them.

Sincerely,

Gail
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The Muckross Yew, County Kerry, IrelandThe evergreen yews provided the "palms" for Palm Sunday processions

Where they used to come with me together,Ten hundred angels were there

Above our heads, side close to side.Dear to me is that yew tree:Would that I were set in its place there.

~ 16th c entury Life of St. Columcille by Maurice O'Donnelltranslated from the Irish

p.s. If you have any further int erest, I can tell you that in August I received aphone call from Dr. Nigel Bell , professor at Imperial College of Science,Technology and Medecine in Berkshire, editor of the book, "Air Pollution and

Plant Life" during which he re iterated what he had sent me via email - heagrees with everything I had w ritten him, which was essentially the same as Iwrote to you.
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The Knap Hill weeping beechimported from France in the 1820's

Branches have formed a vast dome covering half an acrewith numerous separate spires 80 feet high

Specically, he wrote:

"Dear Gail, Thank you for your kind remarks about my book. I was ratherproud when it was nally published. I agree with everything that you say butthere is no doubt that ozone is spectacularly neglected as a threat to plants.This is particularly so in the developing world where our research over many

years has led us to believe that it is a serious threat to food security but almostentirely unrecognized..."

He is the only authoritative gure I have found that does agree with myassessment, other than Dr. Muir of Oregon State. Dr. Muir has an onlinecourse syllabus, but she never responded to my calls or messages. I think anyprofessor or research scientists who publicly states that air pollution underlieswidespread tree death and presents the potential for famine would be invitingridicule due to the rather terrifying implications. There is a tremendousamount of resistance to the notion, but she makes it quite clear in her notes,which is linked to on the "Basic Premise" page of my blog (along with many

other published studies and books) that ozone is the "ultimate cause" of treedeath. Here is an excerpt:
http://witsendnj.blogspot.com/p/basic-premise.htmlhttp://witsendnj.blogspot.com/p/basic-premise.html


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Engraving by Jac ob Strutt of a sweet chestnut by the Parish Church of Tortworth,Gloucestershire.

Already, in the early 19th century, it was considered to be ancient. Below is acontemporary view:
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A candidate for Herne's Oak at Windsor, one of more than 100 self-sown treesremaining from the Middle Ages.

Herne, keeper of the Forest, hanged himself from an oak and then returned to haunt:

There is an old tale goes, that Herne the hunter,Some time a keeper here in Windsor ForestDoth all the winter time, at still midnight,

Walk round about an oak, with great ragged horns, And there he blasts a tree.

~ Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor , Act IV, scene IV The problem has continued, and is now observed to a lesser degree as far northas Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks, resulting from transport of O3 and itsprecursors. The forests have many sick and dying trees, and there is evidence

that ponderosa and Jeffrey pine will diminish in importance in these forests tobe replaced by other, more O3-tolerant species. With shifts in dominant treespecies are likely to come shifts in properties of the entire ecosystem. (Forexample, increased r and incense cedar in the understory are likely to changemany aspects of the ecosystem; they provide habitat for different species,inuence nutrient, light and water regi mes differently than do the pines, and soforth.)Evidence that ozone is causal ?

(1) The spatial pattern of injury coincides with O3 exposure. Injury increaseswith elevation (as does O3) and is worst on west-facing slopes, which aredirectly in the path of O3-laden winds from Los Angeles). There is also a sharpwest-to-east geographic gradient in injury. In the westernmost regions, growthof ponderosa pine is down by as much as 50% and mortality over 1973-1978reached 10%.
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(2) No "natural" causes seemed to match spatially or temporally drought,disease, etc.

(3) The temporal pattern coincided with the growth of precursor emissionsfrom Los Angeles (that is, problems with the pines were noticed only afterLA's production of pollutants increased greatly)

(4) Visible symptoms on pine needles match those produced in lab by

controlled fumigations with O3, including chlorotic mottle, tip necrosis, andpremature senescence.
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There is a yew, the pride of Lorton's vale,Which to this day stands single in the midst

Of its own darkness as it stood of yore...Of vast circumference and gloom profound

This solitary tree! - a living thingProduced too slowly ever to decay;Of form and aspect to magnicent

To be destroyed.

~ Wordsworth, Yew Trees

(5) Species known from labo ratory work to be most sensitive to O3 aredeclining the most, including ponderosa and Jeffrey pine.
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(6) Known physiological mechanisms are capable of producing the observedeffects.

Thus, all criteria needed to establish causation for air pollution injury areactually met in this situation (a rare case when all criteria can be met!).

What is actually killing many of the trees is bark beetles (western pine barkbeetles), who are able to attack the O3-weakened trees. That is, beetles arethe proximate ca use of death, while O3 is ultimate (or is the ultimate factorhigh population density and use of fossil fuels??). In addition, the trees'weakened roots a re vulnerable to attack by root rotting fungi which can causedeath (recall that O3 decreases plant allocation of carbohydrate to roots...).

The Bowthorpe Oak in 1768, The hollow trunk was smoothed out to make room in which the squire could

sit down to dinner with 20 friends. Since then it has been used at times as a stable.
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Hi Gail

Thank you for such as response. To be honest, you write as well as anyacademic I have met. You should consider a review article in a journal. And ifthe fortress of academics wont let you then, team up collaboratively withsome like Dr. Bell or his group.

And I understand the rather simple model of proximate vs. ultimate causes. And why Occams razor is such a poor t for ecology, in many cases, isbecause single ultimate causes are not common. One thing I am is an ecologistand a quantitative one at that. Our assumed model for scientic inquiryassumes mutually exclusive alternate hypotheses. So, if we apply thisgeneral scientic method to the assumed scientic method for ecology, wewould reject it! Ecology just doesnt work that way. It is clear to me that thereis often interacting factors in ecology, that in a sense, compete for theultimate cause. There are always lots of proximate causes. However, overall, Ibelieve you are on the right track with ozone yet the current scientic methodof inquiry about ozone is leaving it outthats a tragedy since it needs to bethrown in with the cast of characters and tested.

Best regards,

Bob


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Chatsworth relics

Dear Bob,

Thank you for your kind mes sage. Would you mind if I include ourcorrespondence in a blog post ? Or, I could include it without attribution. Butif you'd rather I not use it at a ll, that's ne too. (Remember - almost no onewill read it!).

I would like to mix it up with pictures and quotes from "Meetings WithRemarkable Trees" - and this article about a severe shortage of acorns. One ofthe things trees do when they are dying is to put all of their remaining energyinto seed production, so they'l l have a season or two of a bumper crop before
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then go into terminal decline. The past couple of years conifers have had morecones than needles, and the deciduous trees are following the same pattern. It'srather poetic.

Squirrels and other animals may have to scrounge for other means of sustenance thisfall and winter.

"I'm not sure when we last had so few acorns in our region," a scientist said.Following our discussion I was thinking that perhaps it doesn't really matterwhat is killing the trees, drought from climate change, or ozone. But then Iremembered, it really does matter, because we're pretty much stuck withclimate change, which is only going to worsen. But if we decided todrastically conserve, ozone levels would reduce relatively quickly, and treescould be saved for a while. And every moment of incremental time we cansave means everything, at this point, since ultimately the convergingcatastrophes cannot be averted...only delayed.

Thanks,

Gail
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The twin yews at St. Edward's.Gail

And BTW, I believe that both ultimate cause(s) and proximate causes matteras any ecologist should. You a re right about caring for, and seekingsolutions for, proximate lethal and semi-lethal proximate causes!

Bob
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The Rootery at WakehurstHi Gail,

We do indeed agree on a lot here. And you deserve the compliments.Remember too, that one of the best quotes ever from Einstein was his answerto the question, what th e best job for a true scientist?; his answer was, alighthouse keeper.
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The roots of the nati ve yews have snaked over the rocks to reach the soil a s itis eroded.

Use my dialogue anyway yo u would like and attribute it to me as well. Wescientists need not be afraid. We need to be WAY more transparent than we are.

Best regards, Bob
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Apologies to Thomas Pakenham, whose book I have ruthlessly pilfered,

with gratitude for his spectacular depiction of a vanishing and wondrous form oflife.
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Large Trees: Gail Zawacki

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