ghostsofevolution's video: Rewilding Torreya Trees - Dayton Ohio 2016-17

Torreya Guardians in Cleveland, Loveland (Cincinnati), and now Dayton Ohio are reporting early success with nurturing Torreya taxifolia in their forests. Florida Torreya has long been regarded as a "glacial relict" — that is, left behind at the downstream end of the Chattahoochee River system at the end of the Ice Age. It was therefore not surprising that 60 or 70 years ago, climate had already warmed well past Torreya's ability to thrive and to fend off disease agents in its small Florida refuge. Given the rapid additional climate change ongoing now, the tree's future looks especially bleak — unless citizens volunteer to help this member of the yew family move north. That is the role of Torreya Guardians, which has been assisting this species in moving north since 2005. Considering that the "champion" Torreya tree is in a landscape planting in a cemetery south of Dayton, Ohio seems like a sure bet for doing well in today's climate and perhaps being able to tolerate substantial warming in the decades ahead. Connie Barlow video-interviews Diana Spiegel (with assistance from Jim Spiegel) during an onsite survey (November 2017) along the couple's forested creek-side slope. Recent deaths of ash trees (owing to the Emerald Ash Borer) is opening up more sunlight on the forest floor. A delight is discovery of a ginkgo seedling 8 feet away from a little Torreya. The ginkgo seed would have been consumed by a raccoon or fox, then pooped out in the Spiegel's forest: thus "naturalizing" on this continent that was its home in the distant past.