Butternut Conservation

Butternut Conservation

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TOPIC: butternut conservation effort: got butternut?
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/459e1b2ef296933c?hl=en
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== 1 of 10 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 18 2008 10:56 am
From: banjodunce

My name is Keith Woeste, I work for the USDA Forest Service Northern
Research Station out of West Lafayette, IN. As you probably know,
butternut (Juglans cinerea) has undergone serious declines in
population over the past 40 years, to the point that there is concern
that the remaining genetic diversity of the species should be sampled
and preserved. I have a small grant this year to identify surviving
butternut trees. I am working closely with other USDA, State and
Private agencies as well as the Nature Conservancy to identify
butternut trees on public and private lands so that seeds and graft
wood can be collected and a sample of the germplasm propagated in a
safe refuge. Our resources for travel are limited, so we rely on
local experts to help us identify trees.
I am writing to ask if you know the location of any butternut trees on
public or private land in your area. Any leads you could provide are
greatly appreciated. Our long-term goal is to breed canker-resistant,
adapted, genetically diverse butternuts for reintroduction to the
forests of the eastern U.S.. As butternut collection time is quickly
approaching, please contact me right away if you have questions or
need advice.

Your discussion group was recommended to me by a member, Russ
Richardson.

== 2 of 10 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 18 2008 11:39 am
From: DON BERTOLETTE

Keith-
I applaud your efforts, and am sure that forum members share your concerns. Currently in Alaska, I'm of little help other than recalling occasional sightings in the field of butternut (locals called it white walnut) while I was workig for the Redbird District of the Daniel Boone NF. Its beautiful grain is prominently displayed in the hand shaped paneling of one of rooms of the historically registered district office (originally the Peabody Coal Company offices), and is one of my favorite woods!

Your long-term goals are laudable...when you refer to "genetically diverse", are you thinking ahead to anticipated changing climatic conditions, or are we already at a point where the species gene pool is bottlenecked?
-Don Bertolette

== 3 of 10 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 18 2008 11:47 am
From: "Will Blozan"

Keith,

I know of several very nice trees here in western NC and would be glad to
get you directions and addresses. Here is my favorite:

Will F. Blozan
President, Eastern Native Tree Society
President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc.

== 4 of 10 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 18 2008 12:22 pm
From: banjodunce

Will;
Thank you very much for your post about butternut in N. Carolina. Here
is the concern with trees in yards. Starting shortly after 1860,
butternut began to hybridize with the introduced Japanese walnut
(Juglans ailantifolia) commonly called heartnut. The hybrids, called
buarts, are often large specimen trees planted in farmyards and
parks. They were very popular around the turn of the century (when
people still had patience to sit and crack nuts). On my website
http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/fnr/HTIRC/woeste.html I have a
section on butternuts versus hybrids. They can be hard to tell
apart. This time of year one clue is that butternuts are starting to
look ratty and yellow (like black walnuts) whereas hybrids are often
still lush and green. I would love to get butternut samples from NC,
but in general I would prefer that the trees be woods-grown. Woods
grown trees are almost certainly not hybrids.

Yours sincerely,
Keith Woeste

== 5 of 10 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 18 2008 12:15 pm
From: banjodunce

Don;
We are not sure what the future may bring, but at this point we are
worried that the species is declining so quickly that unless we can
preserve a good sample of the germplasm it will be severely bottnecked
by butternut canker and will not have the diversity it needs to adapt
to any future changes. We don't believe the species is badly
bottlenecked already, but regeneration for the species is so poor now
that unless we move quickly the outlook for the next 50 years is bleak.

Keith

== 6 of 10 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 18 2008 12:40 pm
From: "Will Blozan"

Keith,

Most excellent information! I will check the tree out in the photo. I know
of other specimens in the forests including the tallest known tree in the
ENTS database- a 115' tree in NC.

Will F. Blozan
President, Eastern Native Tree Society
President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc.

== 7 of 10 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 18 2008 12:40 pm
From: "Edward Forrest Frank"

Hello,

There are a series of butternuts on islands in the Allegheny River Islands Wilderness in north central PA. There are large butternuts on Courson, King, and Baker Islands in the wilderness. We also found a butternut on Hemlock Island in the same stretch of the river, but this is on private land. Several of the trees are mature enough they should be producing nuts, certainly there are many examples that could be used for grafting.

Edward Frank

== 8 of 10 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 18 2008 1:01 pm
From: "Edward Forrest Frank"

Keith,

Several of us have had a similar conversation concerning the possible hybridization between the two species for some of the planted trees on the ENTS list. One of the references we found was "Morphological and molecular methods to identify butternut (Juglans cinerea) and butternut hybrids: relevance to butternut conservation" by Ross-Davis and others. (including yourself)

One thing that also seemed to distinguish the two species, and I want to ask you if this is valid - and the hybrid was that the Japanese Walnut and the buarts was that these were not susceptible to the canker - so if the canker was present on the tree it would therefore be a butternut?

Ed Frank

== 9 of 10 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 18 2008 1:01 pm
From: dbhguru@comcast.net

Keith,

Welcome aboard. You are among friends. Russ is a great guy. He has been a valuable member of and contributor to ENTS for a long time.

Bob

== 10 of 10 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 18 2008 2:03 pm
From: Josh

Keith,

Jess Riddle and I found a forest grown butternut in Round Cove in
Madison County, NC on Pisgah NF that is in the neighborhood of 20" in
diameter and right at 104 feet tall. Straight as an arrow too. It is
the nicest specimen I know of. Jess may have a photo. I also know of
several easy to collect specimens along Forest Service roads, and
there are two on my parents property, but I've never seen them
fruit. Joan Brown with Nantahala NF and Ted Oprean with Pisgah NF
would also be excellent contacts.

Josh

== 2 of 5 ==
Date: Tues, Aug 19 2008 7:22 am
From: "Jess Riddle"

Hello Keith,

Sterling Creek and the Green River in western North Carolina and the
Rand Tract in central New York have some of the largest concentrations
of butternuts that I have seen. The population on Sterling Creek is
just below the lowest Forest Service Road that crosses the stream, and
contains several unusually tall individuals. The Green River trees
are on state land adjacent to a parking area at the lower end of the
Green River Gorge, and most of the trees are small. The Rand Tract is
owned by the city of Syracuse, and contains mature butternuts
scattered through the forest. Please let me know if you would like
additional information on any of these sites.

Jess

== 3 of 5 ==
Date: Tues, Aug 19 2008 8:50 am
From: "Edward Forrest Frank"

Keith,

Another thing I wanted to ask you about is a phenomena we observed on some of these islands, posted March 20, 2008 -

"While visiting the Allegheny River Islands Wilderness, PA last fall Dale, Anthony and I encountered a number of butternuts. One of them was really old in appearance. What was strange to me was that in the mid 1980's one island had been struck by a tornado which wiped out trees across much of the lower end of the island. The trees have been replaced by (Canary Reed) grasses and not much else. An exception are clumps of butternut. that look as if the original trees were broken off at the ground, or low to a few feet, and that these clumps have resprouted from the broken butternut. I don't know much about the species, but is it common for it to resprout from broken off trunks? They actually formed the majority of the trees present among the grass. There were also some dead Sumac, that died for no apparent reason, Not much else was growing in these areas."

Some of them had remnants of trunks a foot or so in diameter at the base of the resprout. Also recently on Hemlock Island Dale and I found a black walnut growing in a similar situation along with a few butternut. Nobody really provided a good answer to the initial post. Do butternut tend to sprout from roots or broken stumps?

Ed Frank

== 4 of 5 ==
Date: Tues, Aug 19 2008 9:35 am
From: banjodunce

Ed,
Thanks for the tips on the location of trees in North Central PA. I
will try to get local officials to collect for me. For now, the
records can go into the database.

Sincerely,
Keith Woeste
USDA FS
HTIRC West Lafayette, IN

== 5 of 5 ==
Date: Tues, Aug 19 2008 11:27 am
From: "Edward Forrest Frank"

Keith,

I believe Dale Luthringer has GPS locations for the largest of the trees. If the local foresters can't collect nuts, we could possibly collect some this fall. Provided we had the proper permissions to collect from the wilderness area.

Ed

== 2 of 5 ==
Date: Wed, Aug 20 2008 5:28 am
From: djluthringer@pennswoods.net

Scott,

The fat "butternut" (16.7ft CBH x 62.8ft high x 87ft avg spread) I recently
measured in McKean, PA (Erie County) is quite vibrant and sits adjacent to an
old farmhouse. I highly doubt it grew there as a forest relic. The Erie area
service forester has collected nuts from this tree in the past. The landowner
has given me permission to collect nuts, pics, etc. There are a few smaller
specimens nearby, but even these smaller ones are still larger than any I've
come across in a forest setting. After reading these posts, I have my doubts
that it's a pure butternut, but I'm certainly not going to do a detailed DNA
analysis on it to determine the strain, since morphological differenences are
not readily apparent in the field.

The tree certainly isn't a heartnut or English walnut. Bark looks like
butternut, leaves and nuts look like butternut... if it walks like a duck,
quacks like... well, at least it Juglans cinera x " ".

Dale

== 3 of 5 ==
Date: Wed, Aug 20 2008 5:59 am
From: Beth Koebel

Keith,

I have not seen them here in St. Louis but then again
I haven't been looking for them. I know that they did
exist in the area at one time. I will try to keep my
eye out for them and see what I can do to help you.

Beth

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