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Saving the Butternut Trees

Thursday, 8 June 2017 12:52

Work is being done to protect endangered butternut trees in Oxford County.

INNERKIP - The Upper Thames River COnservation Authority worked with the Forest Gene Conservation Association to plant endangered butternut trees in Innerkip.

They planted the trees in the Butternut Seed Orchard on Oxford Road 4 yesterday. Marketing Specialist with the UTRCA Steve Sauder tells Heart FM the Butternut trees are threatened by butternut canker, a fungal disease and protected under Ontarios Endangered Species Act. 

"Hopefully we can actually establish some trees that are tolerant to the canker and help bring this tree from a threatened species to one that is seen regularly like it was in the past." 

Today they added 39 grafted butternut trees to the orchard. UTRCA FOrester John Enright says this is going to be a lenghty process. 

"Archiving is a lengthy process that begins with a licensed arborist collecting twigs from healthy butternut trees in March. The twigs are grafted onto black walnut trees in April, tended in a nursery for two years, then planted and managed in an orchard enclosed by deer fencing. On Wednesday, we will be adding 39 grafted butternut trees to the orchard."

The Forest Gene Conservation Association (FGCA) has worked on butternut recovery since 1992. The association’s goals are:

-  to encourage landowners to conserve and manage their butternut, and
-  to archive healthy native butternuts that may be genetically tolerant to the canker.

You can check out more photo's from the planting online here. 

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