Guam: What’s killing the Gago Tree?

One local tree may become scarce on Guam if experts can’t get to the
root of their problems. They can be found at many of the islands
beaches providing a nice shade. Their pine needle-like leaves make a
comforting sound in the wind. They’re called Ironwood (Gago) Trees and
now unfortunately these native trees are dying from some kind of
unknown ailment. Plant pathologist Robert Shlub says he first noticed
the problem back in 2002 when a farmer who planted the trees as a
windbreak gave him a call for help.

He said, “I went out and looked
at his farm and tried to do a kind of on site diagnosis, and I
couldn’t find anything that struck me as a cause.” In order to get to
the bottom of the trees decline Schlub began writing grants until he
received $140,000 for the University of Guam to begin studying the
problem. This allowed him to bring in experts to take a look at the
trees that have already been affected. Said Schlub, “The main thing
that we’re looking at now is there’s a very slow decline and it may
take five or six years for the tree to die. But it starts out that
the tree is very healthy, and then over this time the needles thin
out, the branches thin out, and then eventually the tree dies.” On
UOG’s campus alone, just about all of the large Ironwood Trees are in
a state of decline. The affliction however is not just limited to the
Mangilao area in fact it’s spread to Windward Hills and Ipan. “It
started in the cemetery years ago,” Schlub continued, “and has now
seem to spread to the larger trees in the park and I’m afraid that the
large trees are going to look like these trees on campus if we can’t
find the cause and also able to slow it down or control it.” Dr.
Schlub is hopeful that he can find out the cause of the decay of these
trees or we might see more Gago Trees begin to look terrible.
http://www.kuam.com/bm/news/native-guam-tree-in-danger.shtml

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