Killbear Provincial Park near Parry Sound has lost hundreds of trees to beech bark disease.
Beech scale. It sounds like something gummy the dentist cleans off your teeth! But beech scale is actually a tiny non-native insect that bores into the bark of beech trees. It not only damages the bark but also creates entry holes for a more damaging exotic pest, the fungus Neonectria faginata. This fungus causes beech bark disease, which is now spreading across the range of beech in Ontario.
Beech bark disease can lead to beech snap, where the stem of the tree decays rapidly and suddenly snaps in half, sometimes before the trees show any symptoms of infection. Killbear Provincial Park near Parry Sound is the third busiest park in Ontario, prime beech habitat—and Ground Zero for beech snap. Since late 2012, hundreds of the park’s beech trees deemed at risk of beech snap have had to be cut down.
“Our park users are understandably disheartened by the loss of all these trees,” says Park Superintendent Rick Hornsby. “Many of the campsites have been changed dramatically. But we’ve received very few complaints. People seem to understand that we did what we had to do. Our park biologist is monitoring what new young trees are coming up, and we will be investigating planting native tree species at the campsites that lost the most trees.”
“He adds, “We are also investigating uses for the cut wood, but it will mostly likely be used for firewood as soon as we can do so without spreading the disease.”
Speaking of moving firewood, OFRI is studying that!
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| Beech bark disease can lead to beech snap, where the stem of the tree decays rapidly and suddenly snaps in half, sometimes before the trees show any symptoms of infection. McLaughlin and his partners are collecting data on snapped trees. |
Working with Richard Wilson of MNR’s Forest Health and Silviculture Section and park staff, OFRI Research Scientist John McLaughlin is investigating when these cut trees are safe to move around and use as firewood. They’ve already determined that the piles of chipped branches and tops are safe for use as mulch. “This material breaks down quickly, so the pathogens no longer have healthy tissue to feed on,” McLaughlin explains.
Researchers are already learning new things about beech bark disease from the Killbear situation. “We were surprised to discover beech snap in trees that were infested with scale but did not yet have signs of the Neonectria fungus that is the other component of beech bark disease,” McLaughlin says. “These beech appear to have other wood decay fungi present in the stem. The heavy feeding by the scale insect and Neonectria infection may cause some kind of physiological change that kickstarts the other fungi, leading to stem decay and snap.”
McLaughlin and his partners are also collecting data on snapped trees—how high up was the snap; was the tree leaning and did the trunk snap on the leaning side or not; how decayed was the stem; and which fungi were found in the stem? They will use this information to develop a system for rating which beech are at risk of snapping.
For more about how Killbear is addressing beech bark disease and beech snap, contact Superintendent Rick Hornsby.
For more about beech bark disease research, contact John McLaughlin at OFRI.
Also see Invading aliens attacking American beech; new research note offers help + facts about American beech.
