By Olivia Witthun, DNR Urban Forestry Coordinator; Olivia.Witthun@wisconsin.gov or 414-750-8744

Tree managers met at Riveredge Nature Center (RNC) for a networking meeting/field tour at the end of July. RNC is located in Saukville, ground zero for Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) in Wisconsin, which was discovered in 2008.

The indoor portion of the meeting consisted of updates from DNR Urban Forestry and Forest Health staff.  There was also time for open sharing amongst attendees and an overview by Matt Smith (RNC) about what we’d be seeing in the field.

The field tour covered two main things: their community food forest and the property’s recovery from EAB. RNC received a DNR Urban Forestry Grant in 2024 to create a community food forest on 9 acres of their land by planting native fruit and nut trees. The layout, fencing, species and maintenance are all very intentional and well thought-out. Some of these plants will begin producing edible fruit/nuts in the next few years. RNC is also inventorying trees around four major walking loops and creating labels, signage and maps. Recovery from EAB is another thing attendees were interested in seeing. The invasion of invasives and a high water table are the two main challenges RNC has been facing with the death of all their ash trees.

Their management tactics include coppicing aspen and ash to create multiple new trees which help shade out the invasives and keep an ash seed source on the property. Their use of fast growing, water tolerant species (e.g., balsam poplar and willow) is helping regrow the forest in areas with a high water table. They then interplant those areas with long-lived, desirable species. A huge thank you to Matt Smith and Riveredge Nature Center for hosting this!

If you are located in southeast or east central Wisconsin and did not receive an invite to this networking meeting (but would have liked to), please contact your region’s DNR Urban Forestry Coordinator.