Named for its woods, Pennsylvania is clearly well known for its trees. Our state holds about 200 different species of trees and a number of them are under threat due to invasive pests or disease. Many of these iconic woody wonders are the focus of specific conservation efforts that will, hopefully, prevent us from losing their contributions of diversity to our forests.
Pennsylvania has been a changing land for the last 200 years. When Europeans first arrived, they found dense forests dominated by White Pine and Hemlock anywhere there was water, and enormous stands of Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples everywhere else. Then, over the course of colonization almost all these original stands were cut down.
While there were great successes in reforesting our state from complete devastation early on, threats to many of our returned trees became widespread in the 20th century. These threats came along with a shrinking world brought on by more convenient and faster travel opportunities from far off locales, allowing for the quick and easy introduction of invasive species.
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