If the bark is completely removed all around the circumference, then I am sorry to say your little tree is most likely doomed.

The only suggestion I would make to you is to protect any replacement trees. When faced with prolonged or severe winters, deer, rabbits and other garden varmints will ingest just about anything. And it is usually something we would prefer they leave alone!

It sounds to me like it could be done by voles. My dh and I lost 11 of our shrubs due to either voles or rabbits. If you want to see a pic of our damage go to the shrub forum and see my post asking if it was rabbits or voles. The bark around our shrubs was completely removed all the way around each shrub.

The varmints even got around our fence for them. So now we are going to plant Maple Trees next week. The mistake we evidently made was not burying the fencing under the ground. Apparently it needs to be done, and at 6 inches below...

Thanks! The rabbit poo surrounding the tree seemed pretty definitive to me. Also, I've never seen evidence of voles around our holes, but the rabbit population is absurd.

We're going to leave the three in place for a while to see if there's a miracle, but our hopes aren't high.

I lost 80 'Fireball' nandinas over the last 5 years. Voles.
This year, rabbits built a nest right outside my front door and feasted on my JM 'Johin' taking it right down to the graft. It has 2 leaves on the graft, so I'll baby it for the next zillion years.

The irony is that now I have to keep my cats from going outside and killing the babies, and their nest is lined with ... cat fur. Cozy nest, smorgasboard of new growth on plants? They're not going anywhere, I'll bet.

One year, rabbits (or delicate deer) went down a 200 yard fenceline and ate every JM down to its graft. When they're hungry, they're hungry.

And yes, if you're going to put fencing around the trees, consider the voles' and rabbits' nature of burrowing. But then, keep an eye on the root system of your tree. If it's too close to the tree, you'll end up with something like the poor trees that are buried in their metal nursery baskets. Like my x-DH did to my Pacific Sunset. Another rant.