CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — When healthy, Beech trees can live up to 400 years, but a newly found disease is wiping out the trees in as little as two years after the first signs of damage. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources said it has the potential to drastically change our forests.
An invasive nematode preying on the trees is believed to be the cause of the disease.
“Thousands of these nematodes can be found in a single infested Beech leaf,” said Jeffrey Woleslagle, chief of communications for the DCNR Bureau of Forestry. “There’ll be dark banding and curling on the leaves, and what happens eventually is the twigs and the branches die back.”
Beech leaf disease has spread from Ohio to New England and is found in about 31 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, mainly in the west and northeast.
The economic and environmental cost of losing Beech trees is estimated to be hundreds of millions of dollars per state; for example, $225 million in Ohio alone, according to the DCNR.
Woleslagle said research on the disease is ongoing by various universities and state and federal agencies.
“It’s believed that it’s being easily transmitted by human means,” said Woleslagle.
He said it is especially common for nematodes to be transferred through firewood as campers travel from location to location.
“We really recommend as always that people don’t move firewood,” said Woleslagle.
At this time, there is no cure for Beech leaf disease.
Throwback Thursday: Sabula's Pioneer Medicine Woman
in Local History Forum
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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Sabula’s Pioneer Medicine Woman
Mary McCoullough Osborne (1839-1926) lived in the Sabula and Narrows Creek area of Sandy Township. Mary was the eighth child of William and Mary McCoullough. She married Henry Osborne in 1858.
The two were both raised in Jefferson County and relocated to Sabula in Clearfield County one year after they were married. When Mary was 37 years old her husband passed away and she was left a widow with two children.
The woods of Sabula where they lived had neighbors scattered widely as other families were settling in the area. In those days there was much sickness and very little doctoring in the backwoods.
Mary always traveled over the hills and through the valleys to tend to the sick, comfort the dying and help families as they grieved.
The locals would ride their horses to Mary’s cabin first and then into a more populated area for a doctor. The doctors were not readily available most times.
In the winter of 1879-80, a diphtheria epidemic struck the community. The sickness spread from house to house throughout Sabula like wildfire.
In those days, people helped one another in time of sickness, but not during this outbreak for fear of risking their lives and the lives of their families. Mary was one person who took that risk.
She went to every home that needed caring for the sick and dying. She also helped prepare the dead for burial.
After the epidemic was over, Mary was credited with saving the lives of many of her neighbors. Throughout all this time, she and her children never fell ill. The sickness escaped them.
Mary was also known for her home remedies and delivering many children. She never kept count because she was too busy. She was 78 years old when she helped with her last baby delivery and had her last sick call.
Mary was laid to rest next her husband in Jefferson County 50 years after his death. She was 86 years old when she passed away.