Published: May 14, 2008 05:52 pm            

Saving butternut trees one seedling at a time

Q: I saw an article in a recent Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ publication about the native, but rare, Butternut tree in Indiana. In the article the DNR requested readers to notify the state of any butternut trees in existence. Are there butternut trees in Boone County?

P. D., Lebanon



A: Butternut, Juglans cinerea, also called white walnut, is a native Midwestern medium-sized tree (40 to 60 feet tall) that seldoms exceeds 75 years of age. Butternut is a member of the walnut family known for its nutmeat that is rich in oils and sweet; its flavor makes it a favorite of wildlife and for people lucky enough to find them.

Butternuts are so rare that a collaborative butternut conservation project has been established between the Nature Conservancy and the USDA Forest Service. Butternut is a splendid, useful tree according to Keith Woeste of the Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center at Purdue University. However, a fungal canker disease of butternut has lead to grave concern over the long-term genetic impact of the epidemic. Over the last 40 years or so, this disease known as butternut canker has killed 80 to 90 percent of the butternut trees in the United States, Woeste said.

Butternut is now extremely rare in the upper south, and butternut may be permanently lost from many of the Midwestern streamsides and woodlands where it once thrived, Woeste said. Scientists with the USDA Forest Service have, for the past dozen years or so, been attempting to identify butternuts that are resistant to butternut canker. Their long-term goal is to breed disease-resistant, locally-adapted varieties of butternut that can be used for reintroduction of the species to its former habitats. Weoste said he’s happy to report that there have been some important successes in the effort to conserve butternut. Several butternut trees have been identified that appear to have good levels of resistance to butternut canker, and the use of those trees for breeding is being investigated.

Bob Gillan, a well know sage and spry 90-plus-year-old Boone County resident, has promoted the re-establishment of the butternut tree for years. He has likely collected thousands of butternuts over the years from his trees and given them to local folks to plant in the fall for spring germination of butternut seedlings. A couple of years ago, Purdue Extension-Boone County promoted a butternut seeds-for-planting give away through The Lebanon Reporter, compliments of Gillan. The program was so popular that he had to collect more of the nuts to provide for all those who wanted them. I have around 10 butternut trees myself that are now 2 and 3 years old from nuts I planted from Gillan’s trees. I also have a butternut tree more than 10 years old that he gave me as a seedling. Hopefully, the parent trees from Gillan’s property have resistance to butternut canker.

What can you do to help?

The Nature Conservancy and Woeste are seeking the assistance of Indiana landowners to help them identify the location of living (and especially healthy) butternut trees. The Conservation Genetics Lab of the HTIRC will test samples of the butternut trees that are identified to determine their genetic history, how they are related to other samples, and their overall contribution to the genetic diversity of the species.

If you know of the location of a living butternut, contact Dr. Keith Woeste, U.S. Forest Service Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center, Dept. of Forestry and Natural Resources, Pfendler Hall, Purdue University, 715 West State St., West Lafayette, IN 47907-2061 or www.agriculture.prudue.edu/fnr/HTIRC/woeste.html or (765) 496-6808. Learn more about the butternut story at the following Web sites: www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ht_but/ht_but.htm or www.lrconline.com/Extension_Notes_English/pdf/bttrnt.pdf



Doug Akers is an Extension Educator for the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, Agriculture & Natural Resources department. He can be reached at (765) 482-0750.

        

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