February 24, 2025

I enjoy seeing American Beech trees (Fagus grandifolia) in the winter. They’re deciduous trees but don’t drop their leaves until spring, giving my woods a scattering of soft brown patches everywhere. And if it snows, those soft brown leaves turn into snow cones hanging from their branches.

This past Saturday I attended a Woods & Wildlife Conference organized by Virginia Tech and learned lots of things including that our Beech trees are under threat, facing a decline and slow death from Beech Leaf Disease. This disease was first discovered in Ohio in 2012, and the cause, a nematode, was just recently identified.

This disease has now been found in 13 states, Ohio, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia and the Canadian province of Ontario.

In the spring signs of Beech Leaf Disease make themselves visible on new leaves which will have dark bands between lateral veins of the leaves. Saplings will die within 5 years and mature trees tend to take longer to succumb.

We’re losing so many of our precious trees. Research is ongoing with no solution yet. Please keep up that research and figure out how to save the Beech trees. We need that research.

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