Beech trees under attack
Excerpted and edited from an ecoRI News article.
“NEWPORT, R.I. — There are at least 504 beech trees in varieties large and small, native and foreign, dotting the private and public properties in this city.
“‘Now, this is probably just a fraction of what actually exists in Newport,’ said Joe Verstandig, Newport Tree Conservancy’s living-collection manager….
“Speaking in front of a crowd of about 150 people in person and about 200 more on Zoom, Verstandig went on to say the largest individual beech tree in the Newport Arboretum collection is a European beech that sits next to the Edward King House; it’s 80 inches in diameter.’’
“‘Unfortunately, that tree is in a great state of decline,’ he added.’’
“Verstandig was referring to beech leaf disease, a nematode that has infested American and European beech trees in the northeastern United States for years now, killing a huge number of trees over the past several years….’’