There is a stately American beech tree that graces the Yonkers’ side of the Westchester County Park that straddles the Bronx River, near Palmer Road where it crosses into Bronxville. (Although I have lived in the neighborhood for over 30 years, I didn’t know that the Park is officially named the “Bronx River Parkway Reservation,” until I looked it up as part of my research for this story.)
But before I tell the beech’s story, I have a confession. When I was a boy, I remember carving my initials into the smooth, gray bark – sometimes compared to an elephant’s hide – of a large beech tree. It’s not something I’m proud of today, and I wish I hadn’t done it. I’m sure many of you have seen such carvings on beech trees in our public parks. When I see them, it always makes me cringe, reminding me of my youthful indiscretion.
I’ve admired this Yonkers beech for decades, I don’t know its age, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were close to 100 years old. It’s 80 to 100 feet tall, with a 10-foot base circumference. Its lower leaves once covered branches descending nearly to the ground, and its leaves on its spreading upper branches captured an enormous swath of sky. But sadly, this once majestic beech is now rapidly declining.
Beech Leaf Disease (BLD) Strikes
This summer, I confirmed that the tree has been stricken with beech leaf disease, and it has come on with vengeance. The canopy leaves are noticeably thinning, and the lower leaves are sparse and deformed. They are curled, leathery and a sickly dark green with yellow and brown stripes and splotches. BLD is triggered by a nematode – a microscopic worm that attacks the beech’s buds and burrows into the cells of newly forming leaves. They disrupt the leaves’ ability to photosynthesize, which over time will deprive the tree of the food and energy, essentially starving it to death. The tiny worms are highly mobile and can spread by raindrops, wind, wildlife and travel through the leaf litter. They are rapidly infesting all the Eastern deciduous forests.
After the shock of seeing the Bronx River tree riddled with the disease, the next day I went to Untermyer Park to check on the condition of two magnificent European weeping beech trees that together serve as a gateway into the famous walled garden. I was much relieved to see that the trees are still in good shape, even though I had read that these trees are not immune to the beech leaf disease. I did, however, find a few leaves that appeared to be thick and misshapen. I hope that it isn’t an early sign of contagion, and that these wonderful trees will not become infected.
To learn about what the County is doing to save the beech trees, I contacted Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins’s office, and I was put in touch with Taro Ietaka, Assistant Director of Conservation in the County’s Park Department, and the County’s expert on beech leaf disease. A person who clearly loves his job and talking about trees, Taro told me that he and his co-workers were “heart-broken” over the fate of the County Park’s beeches, and that his office has been part of a regional taskforce that has been monitoring and responding to the outbreak which was first discovered in Westchester in 2019.Back then, the scientific literature predicted that within a decade there would be a 10% mortality rate among beeches, but this proved too optimistic. The mortality rate is closer to 50% within 5 years, and it is likely all susceptible beech trees will be infected.
Although there is currently no definitive cure, some chemical treatments have shown promise, and the County is now actively engaged in trying to safeguard signature beech trees within the County Park system. Taro told me that he would evaluate our Bronx River Park tree to determine if it wasn’t too far gone to receive treatment that could save it. He also encouraged me to collect hickory nuts, that I could drop them off at the Lenore Preserve, the County park in northeast Yonkers. Hickory trees are a potential replacement for some of the many beeches we will inevitably lose, and the County would like to experiment growing hickory seedlings in our parks.
I feel incredibly lucky to have spoken to Taro, and to learn that there is a glimmer of hope for our Bronx River beech. Treatment of a single tree, however, can cost as much as $1,000, making it prohibitively expensive to treat the thousands of beeches in our County parks that are at risk. Only those deemed extra special are likely to qualify.
I am guardedly optimistic that there still is sufficient life in our beech tree that it will be deemed worthy of being saved. I hope to never see the day when this tree is deemed a danger to the people walking in the park or driving on the Bronx River Parkway, that the County Parks Department will dispatch its arborists to cut it down. I will keep you posted on any new developments.
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The story is the first in a monthly series about trees in Yonkers. If any reader knows of a particular tree that they feel is worthy of an exposé, please contact me through the Yonkers Ledger at phil.zisman@theyonkersledger.com
