Huron Expositor, 2009-09-23, Page 25News
The Huron Expositor • September 23, 2009 Page 25
MNR cataloguing butternut trees in Huron and Perth
If you've got a butternut tree on
your land, John Irwin wants to come
and have a look at it.
The Clinton resident is the field
inspector for a project that is try-
ing to locate and assess endangered
butternut trees in Huron and Perth
counties.
Butternuts, which are native to
Ontario, are being decimated by but-
ternut canker, a disease that's spread
north from the southern U.S.
The retired Ministry of Natural
Resources staffer assesses the health
of the tree and takes a GPS reading
to record its precise location for fol-
lowup visits.
"You're running maybe 10-15 per
cent that are retainable," he said.
Last year,•the first for the program,
saw more than 200 trees catalogued
on 60 sites in the two counties, said
Steve Bowers, co-ordinator of the
Huron Stewardship Council which is
overseeing the project in Huron and
Perth.
The canker is caused by a fungus
that's spread by wind, ` insects "and
rainwater. It's devastating to butter-
nut populations in its path, claiming
up to 90 per cent of the trees. It first
appears as blackened sooty marks
near the base of the trunk, which
develop into open cankers with loose
bark. The stem and branch disease
is fatal to the trees.
Experts don't know where the fun-
gus came from, although it's sus-
pected to have come from overseas
about 50 years ago. Ontario trees
have been infected since 1991 and
butternuts are now on Ontario's en-
dangered species list.
"Unfortunately, there's nothing you
can treat it with," Irwin said.
The canker damage is comparable
to what the emerald ash borer does
to ash trees, he said. "It's hidden."
The Huron -Perth project is part
of a wider effort by the Forest Gene
Conservation Association which is
trying to identify butternuts that
show resistance to the disease. They
may be used for propagating the spe-
cies by collecting and planting nuts
and by taking shoots fromtwigs to
graft onto rootstocks.
The MNR provided $19,500 to the
Huron -Perth project through its Spe-
cies at Risk Stewardship Fund. The
Huron -Perth chapter of the Ontario
Woodlot Association is also a part -
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"That's the hope that species has
-- that we may find some trees that
have some natural resistance to the
canker. If we can find a few of those,
then maybe there will be some hope
for the species to recover," Bowers
said.
If enough resistant butternuts
can't be found, then the future of the
species may be a hybrid, he said.
Butternuts are formally designat-
ed an endangered species in Ontario,
which means people can't cause them
harm.
If you have butternut trees on your
property, call Steve Bowers with the
Huron Stewardship Council at 519-
482-3661 or John Irwin at 519-482-
9517 to arrange a visit.
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