Citizens Help Preserve History in Trees

In an article from Science.org in affiliation with the AAAS, writer David Malekoff's article explains how recent efforts by foresters along with ordinary citizens are aiming to preserve older trees that are at risk to factors such as insect invasion and death due to weather conditions. Such efforts include that of tree ring researcher Amy Hessel of West Virginia University, who helped found a group called Hemlock Legacy Project, or HeLP. This program was created to preserve the dying species of hemlock which has fallen victim to the the invasive insect, the woolly adelgid. This invasive species is killing off large populations of old hemlocks, putting a hitch in research of tree rings that could lead to further knowledge of climate and weather conditions of dates up to 500 years ago. HeLP identifies areas of living hemlocks and enlists the help of researchers, students, and ordinary citizens to help collect data before these trees fall victim to the same fate of the other hemlocks. So far HeLP has identified 29 areas of living significantly old hemlock trees and is currently gathering data to submit to the Tree Ring Data Bank, ran by the US government. Much of this has been made possible because of volunteers and ordinary people expressing interest in the environment and sacrificing their time to take ring counts and other data in places around them. This effort is allowing the true researchers to cover much more ground in time they would not necessarily have if it were not for the volunteers.

Why are Tree Rings Important?
Although collecting data on old trees and counting rings may seem obsolete, this data offers significant research to that of climate changes and weather patterns. In a time where weathering is severely affecting the way in which we live any research toward possibly predicting weather patterns or events is pertinent.  Tree ring data could possibly lead to a better understanding of how global warming effects our atmosphere, when large climate changes have occurred in history, and even when natural disasters have struck. Overall, research in this area not only contributes to our knowledge of climate and whether, but also creates an effort to preserve part of our environment.

What Do I Think?
Personally I think this article is interesting because of my natural curiosity and care for the environment. Previously I was a Wildlife and Fisheries Biology major at Clemson, so I have some prior knowledge about dendrology and trees of our area. I also believe that as humans we have an obligation to contribute to sustaining the Earth we have been given to live on. I like this article because it shows how people are stepping up and sacrificing time to take part in important research that could not only improve our lives, but also preserve part of the environment. 

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/02/saving-the-past-in-dying-trees.html?rss=1