Happy Earth Day! Today, we saw a massive elm at McKinley Park, potentially the endangered American Elm. While it may be an exotic cultivar, resistant native species, or threatened victim of the blight, this tree stands as a reminder of nature's resilience in human-caused problems, in this case Dutch Elm Disease. It is caused when a bark beetle carrying a tree-killing fungus burrows into their host's cambium, creating tunnels that are a perfect germination ground for the blight. In the pathogens' native range, elms are very resistant to the disease. But when humans accidentally introduced the two parasites into North America in the 1920's, it started to chip away at our continent's native elms, decimating them when a second strain was introduced in the 80's. Humans have proved time and time again to be the most destructive species in our planet's history- but it doesn't have to be like that. If we start supporting the vast diversity of our planet and our own species, we can start living in a world where we live in harmony with nature, each other, and ourselves. Everything you do in life has an impact, and if we all work together to make as many of them as possible good, we'll live in the best world we can manage. Like the anatomy of a tree, environments upon environments are stacked on top of each other. And while we can't protect them all, we can protect the vital points so the environments in between can regrow. We all share this planet, so let's protect it together.
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| Approximately 80 feet tall and 100 feet wide, this is a truly mind-blowing size for an Illinois-native species to grow in the presence of Dutch Elm Disease |
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| From its gargantuan size to the many nuances of its twigs, this elm has never-ending beauty |
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