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America’s Iconic Beech Trees Are Under Attack

Inside Climate News · By Grant Segall · last updated
The number of states with trees battling beech leaf disease tripled from 2019 to 2022. It is especially common in trees around Lake Erie, where the disease turned up in half of the beeches studied.

By Grant Segall

Lovers often carve their initials in the smooth gray bark of beech trees. Now those beloved trees—which can reach nearly 40 meters tall, live up to 400 years and are among the most abundant forest trees in the Northeast and Midwestern U.S.—are increasingly threatened by beech leaf disease.

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