|
|
||||
|
Front Page
Subscribe-Free News Index Calendars FEATURES Eye on Sports Larchmont's Reading Lauren's Kitchen Career Doctor Teen Health Tax Advice Tech Talk Travel COMMENTARY Editorials Op-Ed Letters View from Albany LOCAL GUIDE Local Directory New to 10538? Local History Dining Out/In Photo Galleries Weddings & Births Obituaries Advertise Contact Us About Us OUR SPONSORS: • Clotilde, Dress Shop • Coughlin Group, Insurer • Dune Road Beachwear • Emelin Theater • Farm Share, Food Co-op • Houlihan Lawrence Realty • John J Fox Funeral Home • Kenise Barnes Fine Art • Larchmont Plumbing • Dr. Joel F. Levy, Dentist • Lights & Fans Installed • Rye Arts Center • Sardegna Restaurant
|
A (Blight Resistant) American Chestnut Grows in Larchmontby Judy Silberstein (May 8, 2008) A Larchmont bar mitzvah boy, two Cornell alumnae, the Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE ) of Westchester and the Larchmont Parks and Trees Committee are partnering in a scientific experiment aimed at reintroducing the American chestnut tree into its former natural habitat. The Larchmont part of the project is beginning with one tiny sapling planted on Friday, May 2 in Addison Park across from Chatsworth School. The little tree is 100% American chestnut, descended from trees that showed resistance to a blight that wiped out billions of similar trees from Maine to Florida beginning in 1904.
The Addison Park tree already has its own fan base. As part of his bar mitzvah project, Noah Goodman volunteered to dig the hole and plant the tree. He was cheered by NY State Assemblyman George Latimer and Larchmont Village Trustees Marlene Kolbert and Richard Ward. Supervising the installation was Parks and Trees Chair Jan Feinman, who has recently received certification through CCE’s tree steward program and will be monitoring the tree for signs of disease. Also watching over the planting were Noah’s mom, Jane Lipman, and Elisabeth Radow, both Cornell graduates supporting the experiment out of interest in the environment and in honor of their alma mater’s connection with the American chestnut. Ms. Radow previously contributed a 12-foot American chestnut planted in White Plains to honor of Cornell University's founder, Ezra Cornell. She is working to have similar trees planted in other regions where Cornell Cooperative Extensions are available to monitor the trees. Andrew Buttafusca from the Larchmont Department of Public Works was on hand to help maneuver the little tree into its planting hole. He showed Noah how to augment the soil and then mound it in and around the sapling to create a generous well for holding water. He then topped off the dirt with mulch and, for extra protection, surrounded the tree with a fence he constructed from wooden poles and police caution tape.
According to Ms. Radow, the ACF has been working to develop resistant trees and will be following the progress of the Larchmont chestnut. Should it succumb to blight, the ACF will replace it with their “next, stronger attempt at a blight resistant tree. This will continue until a completely blight resistant tree is developed.” At one time, American chestnuts comprised 20% of the American forest in the northeast. A fungus imported to this country on Asian chestnut trees was responsible for killing off as many as 4 billion trees from Maine to Florida. The fungus continues to infect the forests, choking off new trees that sprout from the roots of old, diseased ones. The Chinese chestnut is naturally resistant to the blight, and by cross-breeding American and Chinese trees, scientists have been able to produce resistant trees that are 50% American and 50% Chinese. Successive cross-breeding allow them to develop 100% American chestnuts with a high degree of blight resistance. However, only time can tell if a particular sapling – like the one in Addison Park - will continue to fend off the fungus as it grows. Want to learn more? Ms. Radow has donated a copy of Might
Giants, An American Chestnut Anthology to the Larchmont Library. Want
to contribute? Andersons Book Store is selling copies of the book, with
100% of the sale proceeds going to the American Chestnut Foundation. More
information is at http://www.acf.org. |
Mam'k Schools & Teachers Reach Tentative Accord TOM Hires Full-Time Comptroller More Articles ↓ Former Supervisor Vandernoot Reaches 100 Blight Resistant Chestnut Grows in Larchmont MAG Invites Kids to Make Mom's Day Cards: May 10 LMC-TV To Honor LWV at Award Night, May 29 OP-ED: MORE State Aid for Mam'k Schools BOOK REVIEW: Three Cups Of Tea LETTERS: -Old Timers Should Vote Yes on Budget -Today's Kids Deserve Chance to Excel & Learn -Don't Use Fear to Sell School Budget -Impressed with HMX & MHS, Vote Yes on Budget -Budget Improves Services Cuts Costs for Special Ed -Children's Librarian Assigned to Obits OBITUARIES -Palumbo -Marshall -Halley Mayor Feld Weighs State Senate Run VOL Final Tax Rate Up to 4.97% Barish Replaces Ryan as School Board Candidate Lawn Out, Rain Garden In for Mam'k Mayor TECH TALK:Composting Is Easiest Way to Recycle Sharehouse Launches "Mattresses for Moms" Girl Scouts Share Spirit & Books SEPTA Awards Grants For Mam'k Schools MSF Gala on May 17 Begins Now Online CAREER DOCTOR: To Be A Doctor Part II Mam'k Police Nab Man For Sex With Youth Last Minute State Aid Will Cut School Taxes Restaurant Owner Arrested for Assault Latimer Gets $1.2M For Local Flood Mitigation Hommocks To Improve Writing Curriculum TOM Approves Temp Parking In Memorial Park What's Been Done Since Last Year's Floods? Rain Garden Takes Root During Green Week MHS Senior Scores 100th Lax Career Goal FBLA Takes Gold at State Competition Growing Interest in Softball Fuels Changes United Way Honors Local Flood Effort MHS Seniors are "Seussically" Silly: Photos LHS House Tour: Creative Artists Lived Here TEEN HEALTH: Prom, Intercourse, of Course? BIRTH: Audrey & Ozzy Andrews Boy Identified as Making HMX Bomb Threats VOL To Hike Taxes 4.79%; Hires Treasurer Full-Time Schools Awards Tenure to 28, Adopt Budget Selection Committee Picks 2 for School Board Tiger Softball Wins On New Home Field New Summer Choice: TOM Teen Escape WJCS Gala Honors Larchmont's Rob Stavis FOOD Q&A WITH LAUREN: Peanut Butter Muffins Flint Field Now Set to Open in May Myrtle Parking Deck Construction Starts in June Schools Delay Capital Bond Vote to the Fall Munis to Get 3% Raise in NY State Aid Read-A-Thon To Support Redo at Children's Library School Budget Drops to $116.9M & 5.75% Tax Hike Eye on Sports: Squirts at the Garden TRAVEL: Hamburg's New Immigration Museum TMFD Spans 100 Years Where is the Class of 2007? Larchmont Calendar of Photos Tax Calculator: Where Do My Property Taxes Go? Larchmont Scenes for Desktop Screens |
||
| Front
Page | Terms of Service
| Contact
Us | About
Us | Guiding Principles
LARCHMONTGAZETTE.COM - Copyright © 2002-2008 Larchmont Gazette LLC- All Rights Reserved |
||||