Is cloning the best way to save our great natural resources?
You've heard of cloning sheep and livestock, but what about trees, really old and historically significant trees? It's happening in New York City, where officials are trying to clone trees like this centuries-old English Elm (pictured left) that's rumored to have served as a natural gateway for Gen. George Washington during the Revolutionary War.
The Christian Science Monitor reports that the city's Department of Parks and Recreation, working with Bartlett Tree Experts, a Connecticut company, this winter began extracting cuttings from 25 of Manhattan's most historically significant trees. Those cuttings will be shipped to an Oregon nursery, which will effectively clone the tree by grafting a branch onto the root stock of a similar species. Program manager Matthew Wells says he hopes that complete saplings can be planted within two to three years in Manhattan's public places, or near area schools, where they would serve as natural landmarks.
Cloning is actually a common practice in forestry and botany, where scientists seek to reproduce healthy, long-lived specimens. It's much different than cloning a mammal, and an exact replica is impossible.
Still, in recent years, the story notes that several organizations have begun "cloning" historic trees, including an effort to preserve specimens from the estates of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and from Sagamore Hill, Theodore Roosevelt's home in Oyster Bay, N.Y. Last year, Champion Tree Project International, a nonprofit involved in the New York effort, collected clippings from the largest -– and most ancient -– California redwoods. At the time, Champion's David Milarch told reporters that the hope was eventually to create a "genetic library" for future generations.
-- Scott Streater
