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The Pennsylvania Game Commission plans to spray over 123,000 acres of state game lands this spring in an effort to control the spongy moth, a non-native invasive insect.
As leaf-out occurs the spongy moth egg masses begin to hatch. This moth was previously known by the common name of gypsy moth but the Entomological Society of America changed the name.
Since many of our trees were hit with a late frost last spring and the additional stress on the trees by the spongy moth, it is important to protect the trees this year.
The spongy-moth impact unfortunately led forests on state game lands to transition from mast-producing mixed-oak stands to stands dominated by birch and maple which are not nearly as beneficial to wildlife. Along with these problems are the spotted lantern fly, emerald ash borer and beech tree diseases.
The beech tree is another food producing tree that has been under constant attack. Today, our beech trees are under attack from a disease known as the beech bark scale, which causes significant mortality and defects in the American beech. This disease occurs when the beech bark scale attacks the bark, creating a wound. Later, two different fungi common to North America can invade the tree through these wounds, causing cankers to form. In subsequent years, new cankers will continue to form, eventually leading to the death of the tree.
The beech bark disease first arrived in North America in Nova Scotia in the 1890s and, by 1932, the disease was present in Maine. In the 1970s, the disease had swept through much of the New England area and is now spreading through Michigan and the Great Lakes Region.
Typically, beech bark disease has spread rapidly through an area with an infestation of the scale insect, followed by a heavy infestation of the fungus. When this occurs many of the larger beech trees will either die or be left in a weakened state.
The scale insect doesn't fly, therefore, the advance is slow. Young beech trees often remain healthy due to their extremely smooth bark, which makes them less susceptible to infestation by the scale insect. When the insect pierces the bark to feed, a place is created for a fungus to enter later and grow within the bark, resulting in round scars. This fungal activity interrupts the tree's normal physiological process. A severely infected tree will most likely die, and the trees that live will remain weak and more susceptible to wind damage.
It is said that the earliest Sanskrit characters were carved on strips of beech bark. The word book comes from the Anglo-Saxon boc, meaning letter or character, which derives from the Anglo-Saxon beece, for beech. Shakespeare records the custom of carving into tree barks when he wrote: "O Rosalind! these trees shall be my books, and in their bark my thoughts I'll character; That every eye which in this forest looks shall see thy virtue witness'd everywhere."
One day while deer hunting, I came upon a beech tree that had the names of two young lovers carved into the bark. Through the years, I have seen many trees where a young lad used his pocket knife to carve a heart, with an arrow, along with his initials and those of the girl that, at the moment, he was head-over-heels in love with. This expression of first love was usually carved in a beech tree, and we now know that the chance of disease entering the beech tree increases with the carving of initials.
Probably the most famous message ever written on a beech tree was: "D Boone cilled a baron tree in year 1760." This message was written on a beech tree along Carrol Creek, in Washington County, Tennessee.
Although the words were hardly visible, the tree still carried the scars carved into it by Daniel Boone when it fell in 1916. A plaque attached to the tree told the message.
At the time it fell, the tree was 28 1/2 feet in girth, 70 feet high and was estimated to be 365 years old. If this was so, the tree began growing in the year 1551, meaning it was already an impressive tree when Daniel Boone took out his hunting knife and carved his message.
The scientific name for the beech genus is Fagus, which comes from the Greek word phages, meaning to eat. The fruits of the beech tree are small, sweet triangular shaped nuts enclosed in spiny burrs. Usually, two and sometimes three nuts will be found inside one burr. The burrs split open in October, giving wildlife a chance to put on some fat before the onset of winter. Each kernel is about 22% protein and 50% fat. The American Indians ate the kernels and also pressed the kernels for their oil content.
Our early ancestors fattened their turkeys and pigs on beech nuts. They also ground the beechnuts to make a coffee and flour substitutes. The beech leaves were used to stuff mattresses. So, it's by no coincidence that settlers had nearby beech trees.
Perhaps, you have a memory from long ago of carving initials in a beech tree. Today, some will say that this is graffiti and might compare the act to spray painting the side of a building. This is probably so, however, walking through the autumn woods and finding a beech tree, with a heart and lover's initials carved into it, makes the walk more enjoyable.
Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.