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Beech Leaf Disease Could Drastically Change Forests


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Beech leaf disease could drastically change forests

by: Peyton Kennedy

Posted: 

Updated: 

 

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.”

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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.

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