Last of all, here is a picture of the lower trunk. This is the north side, directly below the bad branches. I certainly assume this is the source of the problem:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8df24b3127cceb36cc2d7dbf100000035103AaNmrJi4Ze
After the picture, I did a little poking around and I believe the bark is alive right at the soil line and below. There seems to be a dead zone where it looks bad in the picture. Don't suggest that it is lawnmower damage. I'm the only one who mows the area and I DO NOT touch the trees with the mower. I'm thinking it is simply some disease which is very bad news for this tree. I'm expecting the affected branches to be dead this spring. I will not know for sure until at least 2 more months. So what happened here? Is there anything I can try, to salvage the remaining part of the tree?
Steve in the Adirondacks (zone 4 on the map, zone 3 in real life).
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