Spartan Profiles: Alan Townsend

SAVIOR OF THE AMERICAN ELM

            No tree is more stately, useful and quintessentially native than the American Elm. The real 'nightmare' on Elm Street, however, has been Dutch Elm Disease, which wiped out 77 million of the crown jewel of our flora in this century. But now, the American elm is poised for a comeback, thanks mainly to Alden 'Denny' Townsend, Ph.D. '69, a plant geneticist with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Glen Dale, MD, near the National Arboretum.

            After 20 years of research, Townsend and his team have cloned two disease-tolerant elm strains, called 'New Harmony' and 'Valley Forge.' They should be on sale by 2000. 'Please don't call me a 'Savior,'' demurs Denny, the subject of recent major features in Audubon and Smithsonian magazines. 'For one thing, we have a team. And for another, these trees are not completely immune. What we released are the best trees we could find.'

            A native of Oklahoma, Denny came to MSU following James Hanover from Yale. 'MSU was the best of all possible worlds,' recalls Denny. 'I worked under two world-renowned geneticists, Hanover and Jonathan Wright. MSU was a national leader in plant science, still is, and I benefited enormously. I also got a great feel for experimental field research (at the Kellogg Biological Station).'

            After MSU, he worked for the USDA in Delaware, OH, where he first started innoculating thousands of trees. 'We found an incredible variation among American elms,' he recalls. 'That convinced me that we could develop higher disease-tolerant trees. The dogma then was that there was little variation.' Within two decades, Denny found two, and he expects to live to see the new elms reach their classic bell-shape. 'That should happen in 20 years or so,' he estimates. Towns and cities can finally have their Elm Streets live up to their names.