Maine's Champion Elm taken down.

[dutchman]

Herbie a @200 year old elm, chopped down,due to Dutch elm disease.

[Black_Bear]

Article on the tree:

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/135095.html

Article on the 101 year old tree warden who tended the tree:

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/134466.html

Preliminary ring count was 212. They will try to refine that number.

[Raider Bill]

This made the St Pete Times this morning :P

[Magicman]

Thanks for the link.  Maybe I messed it.  What was being done with the log?

[SwampDonkey]

Around here it doesn't take long for an elm to have mushrooms and conks growing all over it once it dies. My uncle cut down a 20" elm a few years back and by summer's end it had yellow mushrooms growing out the end grain. It wasn't standing dead when he cut it, but a couple major limbs were dying.

[ohsoloco]

It made the Centre Daily Times today as well.  There was no mention about what was being done with the wood.  Would the Dutch Elm disease put up any red tape  ???

[SwampDonkey]

In the prairie provinces they post notice that elm isn't to be transported for firewood. That was 15 years ago I noticed the road signs.

[tyb525]

I thought the Dutch Elm had been over with for awhile?

[SwampDonkey]

No, it will probably never go away. It's been here for over 40 years, still killing elms.

[Coon]

Donkey is right. We are not permitted to transport elm firewood of any kind especially in the spring, summer and fall seasons.  This is all due to Dutch Elm Disease.   I know of a few people who will cut it whenever they want.  It doesn't seem to be enforced here very well.  :  More so in the cities though.

In the rural areas around here the Dutch Elm Disease does not seem to be active.

[Ironwood]

I am out on getting anything from it. There's a huge local contigent that is going to wack it up into all sorts of things. Just glad to see it revered and respected. Musta made the 101 year old fella real happy.

        Ironwood

[Mr Mom]

I read that they were going to mill it and auction off some the lumber.
I think they were going to build something out of the lumber that they keep.

Thanks Alot MrMom

[thecfarm]

I know this was posted on a new thread. Just wanted to add it to this one.

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/maine/2012/05/15/man-who-cared-famed-elm-tree-dies-103/1195727

[shelbycharger400]

dutch elm still round here

[SwampDonkey]

There is some cloning being done up here with resistant material. But in the news story it was unclear if it's native elm or an ornamental variety.

We lost most all the old elms along fields, still see a lonely tree once in awhile, but not many. Elm is also one of those species in NB that you only find on the larger river systems. Out in the back country no sign of an elm and I've thinned a lot of ground out there. You just see ash (black) and willow on the wet spots besides cedar and softwoods.

[sandhills]

What we have around here (and please someone correct me if I'm wrong) I've always heard and called Chinese Elm, it grows like a weed.  Apparently they had a really good year a few years ago, I have 2 fields that have strips solid with them.  I've sprayed with RoundUp both years which didn't phase them a bit and conventional tillage has done little more than thin them out some (might have to get the plow out).  They aren't a big problem but I would like to know though why they just came in the "strips", maybe just a little better ground I suppose?

[SwampDonkey]

Were the strips exposed soil or scrapings off the top soil layer? You should see pin cherry on that scraped off top soil on road side berms. Grow as fast as an aspen sucker. Too bad they couldn't find a good use for pin cherry. You could grow wood as fast as the southern pines. :D

[sandhills]

SD these are growing in conventional tilled soil (although it hasn't been worked deep for probably 4-5 years).  Two years ago it was soybeans and that was when they really took off, last year it was corn, both crops were sprayed with Roundup.  It's funny though that they only seem to grow in a strip (across my rows) that is about 100' wide and probably about 50' from the treeline that borders the field.
On another note the county reworked a ditch just west of dads a few years ago right beside a treeline of Ponderosa pine, never saw a single volunteer tree there until they did the dirt work and then there was hundreds of them coming up. 

[5quarter]

Sandhills...Those are Siberian Elms. They laugh in the face of dutch elm disease and about anything else that tries to do them harm. They have wispy leaflets and purple berries in the fall. seedlings send down a wicked long tap root, and if you don't get it all, they will be back. Occasionally, I find them nice enough to put up on the saw. they make very nice lumber.

[sandhills]

Thanks 5Quarter, I've just always heard them referred to as chinese elm, and yes they have quite a tap root.  Is the lumber fairly stable?