Today I would like to write about the Tunnel Trees in the US parks as I found them enchanting...
The legend tells that the first tunnel tree was created in the 1881 enlarging an existing fire scar in a sequoia tree in the Mariposa Grove at Yosemite National Park in California. This tree was named Wawona. The aim of this project was to boost the car tourism into the park in that era.
Unfotunately, the heavy snow of the 1969 made the giant Wawona Tree fall but the great thing about this is that the tree remained in its location and created a new habitat for insects and animals and therefore boosted the ecosystem.
It is estimated that this sequoia was over 2,000 years old and now it is still a celebrity and it is known as Fallen Tunnel Tree.
More recently, this January 2017, a similar episode occurred in the Big Trees State Park in Arnold, in California where another giant sequoia tree has fallen as consequence of the winter storms that hit the country in this season. Its name was Pioneer Cabin Tree and it is estimated that this tree was 1,000 years old.
Between the 1800 and 1900 several sequoia trees had the tunnel dug into their trunks for the tourists pleasures to drive, bike, or walk through them.
Luckily, nowadays this torture has stopped and the parks do not need to promote themselves using the tunnel trees. In fact the tunneling inflicted profound and severe damage to the health and strength of the trees. On this purpose the National Park Service has commented: "Tunnel trees had their time and place in the early history of our national parks, but today sequoias which are standing healthy and whole are worth far more."
Before starting this article I was very fascinated about the tunnels in the Californian Sequoia tress as I believed that those tunnels were a consequence of a natural crack that are created in ancient trees, but I could not imagine that it was a man-made attraction.
I am relieved knowing that this form of promotion for the Californian Yosemite Natural Park now has stopped.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/us/pioneer-cabin-tree-sequoia.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/09/508919216/iconic-sequoia-tunnel-tree-brought-down-by-california-storm
http://www.sciencealert.com/the-1-000-year-old-iconic-tunnel-tree-pioneer-cabin-has-fallen-from-a-winter-storm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawona_Tree
Hello All,
I would like to spend some time talking about my country and in particular what happened in Puglia the last few years.
Salento is an area in the Puglia region which has the most important olive-grove of the all country. In fact, over 25% of the agricultural area has olive trees, for a total of about ten millions of plants and more that 30% of them are secular trees.
UNESCO declared Salento a World Heritage site thanks to the historic origin of this area. In fact, accordingly with the historic information at disposal, it appears that olive groves in the south of Italy have been introduced by the Ancient Greeks.
Unfortunately, since 2012 it seems that olive plants are affected by desiccation that, in months, transforms the plants in skeletons. At the beginning, there was the suspect that a kind of sickness called Xylella was affecting this area of Italy, because few years before California and Brazil were affected by this disease which caused the same symptoms on their fruit plants.
In order to limit the damages to the trees surrounding the sick plants, the European Community asked the Italian government to intervene to contain the emergency.
After a short analysis of the olive groves, it seemed that just a small minority of them were affected by the Xylella virus, but despite of this, the Italian Government decided to eradicate all the olive trees of the area in order to prevent the spreading, regardless the fact that the plants were affected by the virus of not.
Obviously, this matter raised huge controversial discussions between the authorities which were pushing for a radical solution and the local inhabitants which were concerned about their crops and investments, and they were actually looking for a softer solution of the problem. In fact, the local communities support a different theory which sustains that the damages of the plants were caused mainly by a fungus and that it can be easily treated with natural remedies.
After over two years of analysis and investigations it has been confirmed that the Xylella virus is responsible for the olives trees desiccation and the Europen Commission has confirmed the eradication not only of the olive trees with the bacterium but also of the plants around them in order to prevent and limit the spread of this disease.
Unfortunately, even an olive tree old 1500 years has been eradicated in March last year.
Its name was Allister.
This is a real drama for the Puglia considering the olive oil production is the second major income for this region, not only the producers are affected by this eradication but also the local economies related to this market.
However, this 2017 seems to bring some positive news: the European commission gave the permission to replant olive trees in the areas affected by the epidemic. These new plants seem to be more resistant to the Xylella virus and hopefully will be able to improve the difficult situation this part of Italy is facing in the recent times.
This situation degenerated a bit further at the beginning of April 2017 since in the last few weeks the Italian Institutions decided to import gas from east Europe and to do so something like 200 olives groves need to be eradicated. Once again, the local population actively protested, both in the site and to the local authorities but they have been removed by police force.
Sadly it seems that the Puglia region will have a huge battle to face in order to save their olive groves from extinction. I really hope this situation is reversed for good.
THE BEST OF LUCH SALENTO!!!
http://www.salento.info/744-gli-ulivi-del-salento/
http://www.video.mediaset.it/video/iene/puntata/toffa-salviamo-gli-ulivi-del-salento_526752.html
http://www.bioaksxter.com/blog/xylella-puglia/
http://www.nationalgeographic.it/italia/2016/03/30/news/xylella_confermato_il_legame_con_la_malattia_degli_ulivi-3035084/
http://bari.repubblica.it/cronaca/2016/03/10/news/xylella_alliste-135196313/?refresh_ce#gallery-slider=128238649
http://www.panorama.it/scienza/green/xylella-ulivi-salento/
http://www.repubblica.it/ambiente/2017/01/23/news/primo_ok_bruxelles_reimpianto_ulivi_salneto_xylella-156713573/
http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2017/03/28/tap-via-libera-alla-rimozione-degli-ulivi-in-puglia-per-la-costruzione-del-gasdotto/3481248/
More recently, this January 2017, a similar episode occurred in the Big Trees State Park in Arnold, in California where another giant sequoia tree has fallen as consequence of the winter storms that hit the country in this season. Its name was Pioneer Cabin Tree and it is estimated that this tree was 1,000 years old.
