This website is designed to spread awareness of why it is dangerous to carve into live trees. The truth is, no matter how attractive your name looks, it is very unhealthy for the tree if you carve it into its bark.

The outer bark of a tree is composed of dead tissue and protects the inner region from desiccation*, injury and disease. Unfortunately, when carving into the trunk of a tree the blade of a knife often penetrates the outer bark and cuts into the inner bark. Inner bark includes phloem* (which transports food made in the leaves to the rest of the tree), cork-producing cells (cork cambium), and cork* cells. If the phloem is damaged, fewer sugars made by the tree get transported to the roots. In cases that the phloem is damaged all the way around the trunk (in a ring for example), the tree will slowly and eventually starve to death.

However, there can be benefits to carving in trees, but only when done by professionals. U-M scientists will remove thousands of aspens using a technique called girdling*. By killing these trees scientists hope to determine how much heat-trapping carbon dioxide forests of the Upper Midwest will remove from the air in coming decades.

Deepen your understanding of xylem and phloem:

click here for more on xylem and phloem

Alyce Whittico

Beech trees are especially effected by unauthorized carving. The thin bark of the birch trees makes them more susceptible to the dangers of carving because the layer of inner bark is closer to the surface.