Mystery aspen deaths

October 9, 2009

By hammersmith

[Source: Payson Round Up] – A slow-motion aspen holocaust continues to unfold across Northern Arizona, with 60 to 90 percent of the tremulously beautiful harbingers of fall dying off in many groves in the Kaibab and Coconino national forests, according to a just-released study by Northern Arizona University researchers.

The researchers have dubbed the seemingly inexorable die-off of the white-trunked, tremble-leafed, high-country trees Sudden Aspen Decline (SAD), but still can’t account for it.

The trend could dim the splendor of fall across a wide swath of Rim Country, dealing another bitter blow to the region’s tourist economy — not to mention breaking the hearts of fall-loving locals

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