Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

OUR DEAD AND DYING TREES
By Rosalind Peterson
July 22, 2007
http://www.newswithviews.com/Peterson/rosalind4.htm

Many trees have died or are in the process of dying in large areas  
across the United States and in Alaska. What is triggering such a  
broad decline and die-off response to entire suites of plant and tree  
communities?

Whether in forestlands, in public parks, along rivers and streams, in  
watered areas, golf courses or on private property, our trees are  
showing signs of major health problems or dying in record numbers. In  
some areas the majority of trees have died and left entire watersheds  
in jeopardy.

Allan Buckman, a former Associate Wildlife Biologist, Central Coast  
Region, California Department of Fish & Game, has been seeing  
vegetation changes and climate shifts over wide areas of Napa, Sonoma,  
Mendocino, and Lake Counties, in California, for several years, that  
are not normal to this area. As a wildlife biologist, recently retired  
from assignment in Sonoma and Lake Counties, Mr. Buckman completed  
field reviews of projects, land acquisition, and animal census over  
wide areas within these counties, and has had over 35 years of field  
experience here and in the North Bay areas of California.

Mr. Buckman noted: ??In the past I have seen localized die-off of  
plant communities from a myriad of sources, and there tends to be a  
trend toward one to several problems at a time, and it varies year to  
year. But I have never seen the present condition of wide spread  
impact to almost all special in all areas from a wide assortment of  
insects, fungus, molds, mildews, bacteria and virus. I have seen areas  
where every tree and shrub in a drainage area has some form of health  
problem??

Mr. Buckman took vegetation samples from one such area in Lake County,  
from chamise, ceanothus (buck brush), red bud, laurel, yellow willow,  
black willow, elderberry, leather oak, black oak, blue oak, interior  
live oak, walnut, Yerba Santa, Manzanita, and toyon. Mr. Buckman,  
??found similar sites in Sonoma County that included live oak, valley  
oaks, ceanothus, chamise, pears, apples, plums, roses and a number of  
ornamentals. The ??larger question of just exactly why they are all  
infected, and what it is that could trigger such a broad response to  
an entire suite of plant communities?? remains unanswered.

Mendocino County trees and shrubs are also showing the same impacts as  
both Lake and Sonoma counties in California. The impacts have been  
documented since 2002, both in pictures and videotape showing the  
massive changes that have taken place in Northern California. Redding,  
California areas are showing declining Douglas Fir and Oak (without  
Sudden Oak Death Syndrome), tree health. These impacts are  
accelerating faster and can be noted in the number of trees showing  
symptoms, dead trees and the number of trees that have fallen down  
under unusual circumstances. (Unusual clumping and blow down of  
branches and trees are becoming more common.)

Many California Redwood Trees across wide areas are dying or showing  
signs of severe stress. Greg Guisti, the University of California  
forest advisor for Mendocino County noted in a Ukiah Daily Journal  
Article dated May 8, 2002: ??There are also many redwood trees in town  
that are showing signs of widespread disease?? The questions remain  
unanswered: Why?

Trees are being cut down in record numbers across the United States  
without anyone doing the studies to determine why these trees are  
dying and what is causing this problem. Fires are burning hotter and  
are more devastating since the late 1980s, and the dying of the trees  
is certainly aggravating this situation.

Mr. Buckman noted: ?I think we are in for big changes, and I think we  
should be on this ?like a duck on a June bug?. I think this is as  
serious as it gets, and we need to act quickly to document the facts  
and take corrective actions??

Sudden Oak Death, now blamed for many tree problems, is found rarely  
or not at all in some counties, and SOD diagnosis does not explain the  
widespread decline in Oak tree health in trees and counties not  
infected with SOD, nor does it explain the broad decline and die-off  
response in trees across the United States.

In a recent article in the Ukiah Daily Journal written by Mark Hedges,  
titled ?Fir Trees Under Attack?, some of the tree symptoms are listed.  
In an interview with Jack Marshall, a forest pathologist for the  
California Department of Forestry, he noted ??a few common things  
going on with the Douglas Fir relative to dry portions of this county,  
maybe Lake County and southern Humboldt?? However, it should be noted  
that the impacts are also found throughout these counties not just in  
the ?dry? areas. Marshall, according to the Ukiah Daily Journal  
article also stated: ??tree-killing insects do not usually attack a  
healthy stand of trees unless individual trees are somehow stressed or  
some other pathogen is degrading the health of the tree??

What is the common dominator for deteriorating tree health in so many  
areas of the United States? Air pollution, white haze, climate change,  
increasing UV radiation, higher humidity caused persistent jet  
contrails, jet fuel emissions, lack of sunlight from persistent aging  
contrails or climate change produced by persistent jet contrails?  
There are over 50+ weather modification programs ongoing, according to  
NOAA records, in the United States. What impact does this chemical  
manipulation of our weather have on the regional micro-climates that  
are needed for tree, plant, and agricultural crop health?

Artificial weather modification through the use of chemicals can  
impact all of us by reducing water supplies, changing agricultural  
crop production cycles, reducing crop production, and water  
availability. Since most experimental weather modification programs  
use chemicals released into the atmosphere the public could be  
subjected increasingly toxic or unknown substances that could  
adversely impact agricultural crops and trees.

Global dimming and the persistent contrails, that produce man-made  
clouds, may have serious impacts on crop production. A recent corn  
crop study in Illinois shows that cloud cover reduces corn crop  
production while direct sunlight increases production.

The dead and dying trees, dead branches, impacted shrubs and bushes is  
turning some of our forests into torches when touched by fire. Why are  
our public officials ignoring this problem?not taking tree ring and  
soil samples to find out why are trees are stressed and dying? What  
has caused this ecological imbalance and what steps are being taken to  
determine what is stressing our trees? So far the typical response is  
?drought and bugs?. Many areas where trees are in decline have had  
normal hundred year rainfall totals. Healthy trees resist pathogens  
and bugs. Many state and federal government ?officials? will talk  
about the decline ?off the record? but are afraid to speak out because  
they fear the loss of their jobs or demotion. Why?

It should be noted that, according to Charles Little, in the 1995,  
book, Dying of the Trees, that: ?Aside from oxides of nitrogen and  
sulfur, other strange elements (besides vanadium) showed up in the  
core samples of the spruce and maple-elements that do not occur in  
natural forest systems, such as arsenic and barium?cadmium, zinc, lead  
and copper-were found, too?? Aluminum, which is increasingly being  
found in required water samples taken by local water districts in  
Mendocino County, other California counties, and Arizona might be,  
??the most toxic of all?? to our trees. And yet, few if any government  
agencies are taking soil, tree ring, or water samples to find out what  
is negatively impacting our trees and plants.

Charles Little notes in his book: ?As it happens, aluminum is a common  
constituent of forest soils almost everywhere, but it is ?locked up?  
in aluminum silicates, and in this compound form is not available to  
tree and other plants, and therefore is no danger to them. But after  
the acid rains came?the silicates were broken down, and the aluminum  
was freed to be taken up by trees and plants. The metal kills the  
roots first. This means that trees can no longer absorb and transport  
needed nutrients, such as phosphate, calcium, and magnesium-essential  
fertilizers that are themselves leached away from the soil should by  
acid deposition?. The trees are weakened and can be invaded by insects  
or pathogens or succumb to extremes of weather-or all of the above, in  
which case they die??

Why is the rain here on the acidic side of the scale? We are not sure  
exactly what is stressing our trees here but taking tree ring samples  
and soil samples are a beginning. With increasing air pollution in our  
local counties the impacts may be greater than we suspect and all of  
our local, state and federal representatives need to be taking a  
closer look at this looming problem?not just recommending the cutting  
down of trees (Senator Dianne Feinstein-Lake Tahoe), in our watershed  
areas without investigating the reason for the losses.

High levels of UV-B radiation are also impacting wide areas across the  
United States. This type of radiation can also impact tree health,  
growth rates, and stress tree in other ways. NOAA/National Weather  
Service puts current UV Index Forecasts on its websites. The UV  
exposure level in increasing throughout the United States. Could jet  
fuel emissions, which contain nitric acid that depletes beneficial  
ozone in our atmosphere, be one of the major culprits in this increase  
in UV radiation reaching the earth?

Mr. Buckman noted: ??UV Index Forecasts (NOAA Climate Prediction  
Center)?the data is quite shocking. We live in an area that regularly  
has Solar Noon Hour UV levels of 10 to 11 that are listed as ?VERY  
HIGH? ?Changes in UV light could easily trigger such a response, and  
in fact could cause major vegetation community shifts. Why are UV  
levels elevated???

Replanting will be one answer only if we can determine what is causing  
the problem. Newly planted trees will die as well, as noted in some  
many areas, one of which is in Redding, California. Before it is too  
late we need to do those tests and work to mitigate these impacts  
before we lose more trees and increase the fire hazards in our  
respective counties. If we don?t find a solution this danger could  
increase as more trees decline in health and die.

We also have a loss of pollinators and bees in the United States which  
could also be detrimental to plants and trees, especially to  
agricultural fruit trees and crops. Chemically based weather  
modification programs, atmospheric heating and testing programs,  
persistent jet contrails, that raise humidity and changing  
micro-climates, could be disrupting tree and plant health across the  
United States and causing a decline in pollination by reducing the  
number of pollinators, like bees. Persistent jet contrails also reduce  
the amount of direct sunlight reaching the earth thereby reducing the  
photosynthesis process that is need for all plants and trees to grow  
properly and produce agricultural crops.

Many of our state and federal government agencies know about these  
problems and are hiding them from the public or not doing the testing  
to find out why our trees and plants are stressed. Standard answers  
that don?t make sense are handed out to the public as a placebo in  
place of real investigations. Before you cut down or trim your dead  
and dying trees ask the hard questions?find out about what is  
happening to the trees in your national parks and other areas. Ask the  
hard questions and demand answers.

The public pays the salaries of our government officials. It is time  
that they acted in our best interest to protect our trees and plants.  
And we must let our elected representatives know that some of our  
government agencies are under pressure to change scientific reports  
and toe the political party line or they will lose their jobs. We  
elected our representatives to protect the public interest and our  
commons, whether air, water, soil, trees, plants, agriculture or  
atmosphere, from being used for personal gain and questionable  
private, university, and military experiments. Our elected officials  
must protect our natural resources and the public health first. Right  
now our elected officials appear to be protecting political corporate  
interests, while accepting contributions from their paid lobbyists,  
over the rights of American citizens.

Pictures of dead and dying trees have been pouring in from many states  
including Arizona, California, Nevada, Washington, Alaska and  
Virginia. It is time to take action now. Internet research under ?tree  
decline, type of tree, and tree death, by county and state, will  
reveal tremendous numbers of trees in decline or dead, not only in the  
United States but around the world.

IT IS TIME TO FIND OUT WHY OUR TREES ARE STRESSED AND UNABLE TO RESIST  
PESTS AND PATHOGENS! CONTACT YOUR LOCAL, STATE AND FEDERAL  
REPRESENTATIVES. ASK THEM TO AUTHORIZE AIR, TREE, WATER, AND SOIL  
TESTING. We need answers to the questions ? not just be told to wait,  
watch our trees die and then be cut or burned down by forest fires.