Month: April 2021

1000 Friends Of Wisconsin’s Leafing Out Webinar Series

Posted on by patricialindquist

Leafing Out, Episode 5: Common Tree Diseases With Brian Hudelson

Thursday, April 15, 2021, 12:00-1:00 PM

This webinar is produced in collaboration with the Dane County Tree Board.

Join 1000 Friends and Brian Hudelson, the Director of Diagnostic Services at the UW-Madison Plant Disease Diagnostics Clinic, to learn about the most common diseases impacting our urban trees. Brian will teach us the most prevalent tree diseases and share methods for their management and prevention.

We’ll stop periodically throughout the presentation so Brian can answer any specific questions you have. Brian is a frequent guest on the Larry Meiller Show on WPR and is excited to answer any of your tree disease questions. We encourage you to send questions in ahead of time to be sure we answer them.

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“Everything You Need To Know In Half An Hour” Webinar Series

Posted on by patricialindquist

This spring EAB University is starting a new series of 30-minute All You Need to Know videos.

The webinars run from late April to mid-May and cover gypsy moth, spotted lanternfly, emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, thousand cankers disease and hemlock wooly adelgid. Scroll down for dates, speakers, abstracts and registration info.

Gypsy moth: Everything you need to know in half an hour

  • Speaker: Cliff Sadof, Elizabeth Barnes of Purdue University, Department of Entomology, and Carrie Tauscher of Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry
  • Date: April 28, 2021, 11 a.m. Eastern
  • Registration: https://msu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EjBdXKugQWOZil8Ws23U5A
  • Abstract: When does gypsy moth kill trees? When don’t you have to worry? Learn the latest in key information about gypsy moth including management, current distribution, preventing spread, basic biology, host-plant identification and more.

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Species Diversity In The Urban Forest: A Short Guide For Homeowners

Posted on by patricialindquist

By Patricia Lindquist, DNR Urban Forestry Communications Specialist, patricia.lindquist@wisconsin.gov, 608-843-6248

“What kind of tree should I plant?” We are often asked that question as urban foresters. For me, the first thing that comes to mind is, “not a maple!”

Approximately 36% of trees in the Wisconsin Community Tree Map are maples.* Why is this a bad thing? All it takes is a pest like the emerald ash borer (EAB) or a disease like Dutch elm disease that targets maples, and suddenly, one-third of the urban canopy is destroyed.

By planting smaller quantities of many different species, we create a more resilient urban forest less affected by any single threat.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recommends planting no more than 10% of a genus (for example, maples or oaks) and 5% of a species (such as sugar maples or bur oaks). Most Wisconsin communities are far from meeting those targets.

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Protect Oak Trees From Oak Wilt By Pruning After July, Not Before

Posted on by eleanorvoigt

By Don Kissinger, DNR Urban Forester, 715-348-5746 or Don.Kissinger@wisconsin.gov; Paul Cigan, DNR Forest Health Specialist, 715-416-4920 or Paul.Cigan@wisconsin.gov

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) urban and forest health specialists recommend not pruning or cutting oaks from April through July to protect oak trees from the often fatal oak wilt disease.

The spring season often draws property owners outdoors to soak up rays of long-awaited sunlight, breathe in some fresh air and begin seasonal yard maintenance and cleanup projects. While spring is a time to dust off yard tools like rakes, shovels and weed clippers, when it comes to the health of oak trees, keeping those chainsaws and trimming tools a safe distance away will go a long way to ensure that your trees stay healthy for many more spring seasons to come.

Sap-feeding beetle on a diseased oak tree in Sawyer County.

Sap-feeding beetle on a diseased oak tree in Sawyer County.

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Treat Your Valuable Ash Trees Against Emerald Ash Borer

Posted on by eleanorvoigt

Bill McNee, Forest Health Specialist, Oshkosh. Bill.Mcnee@wisconsin.gov or 920-360-0942

Property owners with healthy, valuable ash trees should consider treating them with insecticide this spring to protect against emerald ash borer (EAB). The pest is currently the most damaging threat to trees in Wisconsin, killing more than 99% of the ash trees it infests.

Woodpecker damage during the winter is often the first sign that an ash tree is infested. Now is an excellent time to consider insecticide protection because the treatments are typically done between mid-April and mid-May once leaves begin to return.

Treatments on already-infested ash trees are more likely to be successful if the trees have low or moderate levels of woodpecker damage.

An ash tree branch with bark missing after woodpeckers attacked it while looking for larvae to eat.

This ash tree branch in West Allis has been attacked by woodpeckers looking for larvae to eat.

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Look For Gypsy Moth Egg Masses And Prepare For Hatch; DATCP Slow-The-Spread Treatments Announced

Posted on by eleanorvoigt

By Bill McNee, DNR Forest Health Specialist, Oshkosh, Bill.Mcnee@wisconsin.gov or 920-360-0942

Typically, gypsy moth egg masses hatch in April as temperatures warm. Now is a great time to do an egg mass inspection to look for unknown infestations and treat or remove any masses within reach. Each mass can result in 500 to 1,000 leaf-eating caterpillars.

Egg masses are tan-colored lumps and vary from about the size of a nickel to a quarter. They can be found on many outdoor surfaces such as tree trunks, the undersides of branches, buildings, rocks, fences, retaining walls, firewood piles and picnic tables.

Gypsy moth egg masses on the underside of a maple branch

Gypsy moth egg masses on the underside of a maple branch. 

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Stalactiform Stem Rust Of Jack Pine

Posted on by eleanorvoigt

By Todd Lanigan, DNR Forest Health Specialist, Eau Claire. Todd.Lanigan@wisconsin.gov or 715-210-0150

Stalactiform stem rust, which occurs in the Lake States and Canada on jack pines, was recently found in western Monroe County. Before this discovery, the only place I have seen stalactiform stem rust in Wisconsin was Adams County in the mid to late 1990s.

Rust diseases can be identified by the galls’ shape and location and by cankers present on the trees. On jack pine seedlings and saplings, stalactiform stem rust can cause elongate swellings on branches or the main stem (trunk).

A jack pine with stalactiform stem rust galls that squirrels have chewed on

A jack pine with stalactiform stem rust galls that squirrels have chewed on.

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Survey Request for Webinar Topics

Posted on by Kirsten Held

The DNR’s Forest Products Services team hosted a webinar in June 2020 that highlighted some of the positives of building with wood and explored the state of Wisconsin’s forest resources. To expand on that basic message, we are working on a series of future webinars that will address more specific themes within the broader theme of building with wood.

To best assess which topics potential attendees are most interested in learning about, we kindly ask that you fill out the survey linked below. We would very much appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback. We estimate that the few short questions found in the link below will take less than three minutes of your time. The survey will close on April 21, 2021.

Access the survey link here.

If you have any questions regarding the survey or webinars, contact Alex Anderson, DNR Forest Products Specialist, at  715-492-0571 or Sabina Dhungana, DNR Forest Products Specialist, at 608-220-4531.

USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers

Posted on by Kirsten Held

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced new programs to bring financial assistance to producers, including assistance for timber harvesting and hauling firms, who were impacted by market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The USDA will re-open the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) signup for at least 60 days, beginning on April 5, 2021. Please visit the USDA Pandemic Assistance webpage for more information.

There’s More To Panels Than OSB And Plywood

Posted on by Kirsten Held

By Alex Anderson, DNR Forest Products Specialist, Rhinelander

When people think of wood-based panel products, plywood and oriented-strand board (OSB) usually come to mind. However, a vast array of panel products whose primary building block is wood do not fall under the auspices of plywood or OSB. Before we explore those, it’s important to understand the distinction between “structural” panels and “non-structural” panels.

As the name implies, structural panels are designed to bolster the strength, stiffness and resistance of the items they adhere to. Plywood, generally, is utilized in commercial structures, whereas OSB is more common in residential construction.

Both plywood and OSB function as cladding for roofs, walls and subfloors. In Wisconsin, various plywood manufacturers generally produce hardwood plywood for decorative applications, such as furniture, cabinets, pinblocks for pianos and many others. There are also two OSB manufacturers in Wisconsin that utilize OSB as a base for their siding product.

Alternatively, non-structural panel products are primarily represented by medium-density fiberboard (MDF), particleboard and hardboard. Like OSB and plywood, these panels are prized for their dimensional stability and textural consistency.
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