Declining Aspens

by Nick Coons
Apr 20, 2005

There was an article recently that said the number of Aspens, distinctive white-barked trees, are declining rapidly since the 1960s. My first thought was that this was due to development, or even fires from the recent nearly decade-long drought. But apparently that's not the case.

The biggest cause of this is elk eating the saplings, the young trees, and so are not getting a chance to fully grow. The secondary cause is a freeze in 1999 that made the trees susceptible to certain problems like fungus. The number of Aspens in Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

and New Mexico shrank from 486,000 in 1962 to 147,000 in 1999. One of the suggestions is to actually fence off the trees to protect them from animals.

Now wait a second. If the problem with the declining trees is man-made, like rapid development, then perhaps its our duty to step in and protect them; if it is that important that they are here. But if the problem is that they are being eaten by animals, isn't that nature just taking its course? Is that really something where we should interfere? If the elk want to eat the trees, maybe they should eat the trees; so long as they're not on private property (if they are, it's up to the owner to protect his or her property).

Also, elk have been here for quite some time. Why is it that they started eating trees in 1962? Was it part of the elk hippie-rebel movement?