News from the world of trees 2020 #8

Here is another (occasional) round-up of tree news articles from around the world – I can’t believe I have not had time to post one of these since August! Click on each of the pictures if you would like to read the full stories.

British Christmas tree grower of the year

A family business in York has been crowned the winner of the Champion Christmas Tree Grower of the Year competition – Guardian report in pictures…

Donate a tree for a brighter 2021

New Zealand is hoping to inspire some positivity for 2021 with its Forest of Hope campaign, reports Travel and Leisure…

How trees made us human

The New Republic reviews The Age of Wood by Roland Ennos…

Maasai are wildlife custodians

Maasai of Kenya have rules and taboos – you cannot cut a tree, for example, says the Telegraph…

Giant fig tree wins over president

Also in Kenya, the BBC reports on a presidential pardon for a threatened fig tree…

Whitebark pines dying across the US west

The whitebark, a high-elevation tree and key source of food for grizzly bears, is vulnerable to climate crisis, beetles and disease, reports the Guardian…

Tree planting needs to be right

The World Economic Forum reports that haphazard tree planting can have unintended consequences…

Curious stories of six UK trees

National Geographic takes a look at some of the UK’s most fabled trees…

From fallen leaves to paper

Valentyn Frechka was a high school student living in rural Ukraine when he began a science project to turn fallen leaves from trees and plants into paper, reports the Jakarta Post…

Tree rings warn of Indian river floods…

For years, scientists have been looking with concern at the Brahmaputra river’s potential for catastrophic flooding in the future, especially as the climate warms. It turns out that this potential has been underestimated, according to the Indian Express…

…and may hold clues to distant supernovas

Massive explosions of energy happening thousands of light-years from Earth may have left traces in our planet’s biology and geology, according to new research.reported in Science Daily…

Meet Pistonia, the tree that eats birds

The grisly horror of the bird-catcher tree, native to tropical islands, is the result of needing to disperse its seeds, says SBNation…

Shorter Amazon tree lives hit carbon uptake

According to Sci Tech Daily, global warming is making Amazon trees grow faster and die sooner, hitting their potential for world-saving carbon uptake…

Oldest Toronto oak saved by council

A historic red oak tree that planted its roots years before Toronto grew into a bustling city will no longer face the axe thanks to a last-minute decision by the city council to buy the property on which the tree grows, reports CP24…

World Olive Tree Day 2020

Unesco describes several notable heritage sites for World Olive Tree day…

Rare pine stolen from university arboretum

A rare Algonquin Pillar Swiss Mountain Pine tree has been stolen according to the University of Wisconsin Madison Police Department, as reported by Channel3000…

Tree planters cut giant sign in bracken

A group of volunteers has taken the plan to plant one million native trees in mid Wales a step forward by clearing bracken on the Black Mountains. They want more people to help them to plant 140,000 trees so have cut a giant message into the fern which can be seen for miles around, reports the BBC…

Adopt a magical tree by the sea

Driven by their love for the island of Chios a couple decided to save old or abandoned Chios mastiha (mastic) trees, according to the Greek City Times…

Isn’t it good, Norwegian wood

Design Boom has some superb pictures of this woodnest treehouse fastened to a living pine tree in Norway…

You can read all my previous tree news posts here…