A Different Shade of Green

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "Any potential violations in the ski program were inadvertent and demonstrate the need for improved systems of management, education and communication." DEAN OF THE COLLEGE JIM LARJMORE ON THE NCAA INVESTIGATION OF THE DARTMOUTH SKI TEAM

One need go no further than www.dartmouth.edu to see how much the College loves its elms. An interactive map allows visitors to click on individual trees to see them through the seasons—or not. The squeamish should be warned: Stump shots are included.

Sadly, 2003 saw four more elms re- duced to such a state, all as the result of Dutch elm disease. Grounds supervisor Bob Thebodo and tree warden Dave DiBenedetto sometimes feel they are fighting a losing battle. Thebodo was particularly shaken by the death of a tree he personally planted near Rauner Library in 1978. "It broke my heart," he says. "I loved that tree."

To stave off more losses, DiBenedetto continues his weekly routine of walking the campus, his eyes peeled for sickly looking trees. The disease, he says, can strike when least expected. Such was indeed the case with two Dutch elm fatalities last July: "One we thought was under control, the other was a complete shock," he says.

Removing a diseased elm is usually a last resort, according to Thebodo. An ailing specimen is first treated by removing the infected portion of the tree—the discolored sections of the canopy—and then monitored to ensure that the infection has not spread.

Not all the news is bad: The College has just obtained a "vaccination" of sorts. Imported from the Netherlands, it is a special chemical that, when injected into elms, purportedly inoculates them against Dutch elm disease. Thebodo and DiBenedetto are waiting to see if this hopeful claim pans out.

While disease-resistant elms are being cultitvated by DBenedetto for planting, don't expect a return to the canopied look of yesteryear anytime soon.

Like his collegiate counterparts, Dißenedetto worries not only about the ailments that threaten the Colleges 100- plus elms: "There are all types of insects, diseases and man-made problems that will affect trees," he says. "We have a problem with a number of our maples that are due to compaction or salt. Then there's a bacterial scorch disease that is affecting the red oak population. This has been getting worse over the last two years and there's no treatment." DiBenedetto cites an oak near the commencement stage location at the south end of the Green as a worrying example.

Dartmouth's Green, circa 1890