Urban Forestry News

DNR Debuts Video On Scraping Spongy Moth Egg Masses

Posted on by akabelowsky
Photo of Wisconsin DNR's Andrea Diss-Torrance scraping a spongy moth egg mass off a tree.

Wisconsin DNR invasive forest insects program coordinator Andrea Diss-Torrance demonstrates scraping a spongy moth egg mass off a tree while making a video on the subject for the DNR. / Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR

By Art Kabelowsky, DNR Forestry Outreach/Communications Specialist
Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov or 608-335-0167

The fall and winter months present a perfect opportunity to protect trees by searching out and removing spongy moth egg masses.

The invasive insects currently exist only as tiny eggs, camped out in egg masses that can be found in places such as tree trunks and branches, under park picnic benches and swing sets, and under the awnings of buildings.

And now, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has debuted a short video showing exactly how to easily and safely remove egg masses to reduce next spring’s population of hungry spongy moth caterpillars.

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Tree City USA Application Portal Now Open

Posted on by patricialindquist

The application portal for Tree City USA is now open and available. Applications are due Dec. 31.

You will notice some changes to the recognition portal this year. These instructions will help you log in for the first time.

We hope you join us again this year in continuing our strong commitment to growing and maintaining a healthy tree canopy across Wisconsin. If you’re new to Tree City USA, you can learn more about the program on the Arbor Day Foundation’s website and from your DNR Urban Forestry Coordinator.

If you’ve been a Tree City USA for at least one year, you may want to see whether you’re eligible for a Growth Award. The Growth Award is presented by the Arbor Day Foundation to participating Tree City USA communities that demonstrate higher levels of tree care and community engagement during the calendar year. Communities need to earn at least ten points in any of the following five categories: Building the Team, Measuring Trees & Forests, Planning the Work, Performing the Work and The Community Framework. Review the point system to see if you’re eligible this year and talk to your Urban Forestry Coordinator if you have any questions.

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The Good, The Bad And The Ugly: The Current State Of Public Trees In Southeastern Wisconsin

Posted on by patricialindquist

By Elton Rogers, Milwaukee Area Technical College and Dan Buckler, DNR Urban Forest Assessment Specialist, Milwaukee, Daniel.Buckler@wisconsin.gov or 608-445-4578

An urban forest is not an island. Trees and maintenance practices in one community inevitably affect the environment in another, while pests, pathogens and other damage agents don’t respect political boundaries. Because of these shared experiences, researchers have partnered with the Wisconsin DNR to assess the current state of publicly managed trees across the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area. Inventories from 40 organizations (mostly municipalities) totaling almost 440,000 trees point to worrying diversity issues and vulnerability to climate change, but also positive planting trends.

An article in the September issue of Arboriculture & Urban Forestry, the research publication of the International Society of Arboriculture, reviews the Milwaukee area’s species diversity, resilience to climate projections, availability of planting sites and more. A high-level summary of those results is below.

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From Decaying Park To A Vision For Tomorrow: The Story Of Mauston’s Living Food Pantry

Posted on by patricialindquist

By Randy Reeg, former City Administrator, Mauston

The city of Mauston (Juneau County, Wisconsin) is a small rural city of just under 4,500 people, situated along the I-90/94 corridor in central Wisconsin. Despite having a highly successful local manufacturing economy, a regional medical center and being situated in heavily trafficked regional tourist destination area, Mauston and Juneau County both have lower than average incomes and high levels of poverty. The region is one of Wisconsin’s rural food deserts, and the local food pantry, the Community Sharing Pantry, plays a crucial role in fighting local hunger.

The city of Mauston has seven public parks, and like in most other communities, the amenities, popularity and usage of each park differs greatly. Marachowsky’s Park is an approximately 2-acre mini park located on the city’s west side. It had historically contained a youth baseball field, a picnic shelter, playground equipment and public restrooms. Following the summer of 2019, Mauston’s Summer Recreation Director at the time advocated for the relocation of the youth baseball field to a different park for logistical purposes, including the muddy and mosquito-ridden conditions. The Parks & Recreation Board and City Council both agreed, and by summer of 2020, youth baseball was no longer an activity at Marachowsky’s Park.

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Free Data Collection Applications For Tree Inventories

Posted on by patricialindquist

By Dan Buckler, DNR Urban Forest Assessment Specialist, Milwaukee, Daniel.Buckler@wisconsin.gov or 608-445-4578

Tree inventories seem like such simple enterprises. Their purpose, essentially, is to determine what trees are growing where, in what shape they’re in and how big they are.

But to do them well requires expertise in arboriculture, proficiency with data collection and familiarity with GIS. And, of course, time. This is why many organizations turn to consulting arborists and foresters to conduct inventories and write management plans – they have that expertise and experience to see those projects through.

However, for some smaller or specialty projects, an organization may decide to collect tree data itself. For these efforts, a list of free digital data collection applications is available on the DNR website.

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Urban Wildlife Damage Abatement And Control Grants

Posted on by patricialindquist

Photo credit: USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station, Bugwood.org

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is now accepting applications for Urban Wildlife Damage Abatement and Control (UWDAC) grants. UWDAC grants help urban areas develop wildlife plans, implement specific damage abatement and/or control measures for white-tailed deer and/or Canada geese. 

UWDAC grants provide a 50% cost share with a maximum award of $5,000. The grant is available to any town, city, village, county or tribal government located within an urban area. Check out the complete list of eligible urban areas.

Grant eligible expenses include:

  • Developing an urban wildlife population control plan
  • Monitoring wildlife populations and establishing population estimates
  • Removing deer using sharpshooters as part of a DNR approved project
  • Trapping deer and geese
  • Implementing managed hunts
  • Removing resident Canada geese by approved DNR methods
  • Performing required health and tissue sampling
  • Processing, distributing or disposing of geese or deer to a charitable organization
  • Modifying habitat
  • Implementing any other wildlife control or damage abatement practices approved by the DNR

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Not-So-Notorious Native Buckthorn

Posted on by akabelowsky
Photo of alder-leaved buckthorn, a native species in Wisconsin.

The native alder-leaved buckthorn is much smaller than its invasive counterparts and prefers wet areas such as fens. / Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR

By Mary Bartkowiak, DNR Invasive Plant Program Coordinator, Rhinelander Service Center;
Mary.Bartkowiak@wisconsin.gov or 715-493-0920
and Erika Segerson-Mueller, DNR Invasive Plant Program Specialist, Oshkosh Service Center;
Erika.Segersonmueller@wisconsin.gov or 715-492-0391

Most of the rather frequent buzz about buckthorn revolves around the two non-native, invasive types: common and glossy. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds the public that while these aggressive plants and serial invaders are common in Wisconsin forests, there is also a benign and native buckthorn that gets much less attention.

Many people are surprised to learn about this small shrub that has eluded notoriety, unlike its close relatives. Native buckthorn, also known as alder-leaved buckthorn (Rhamnus alnifolia), is a demure shrub that doesn’t grow much taller than 3 feet and prefers wet areas with calcium in the soil.

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Time To Seek Out Spongy Moth Egg Masses

Posted on by akabelowsky

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

Photo of spongy moth egg masses on a tree.

Three spongy moth egg masses are found on a tree branch at Kettle Moraine State Forest Southern Unit in Walworth County. / Photo Credit: Bill McNee, Wisconsin DNR

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is encouraging property owners to seek out and dispose of spongy moth egg masses, which were produced by adult moths during the summer.

Each spongy moth egg mass contains hundreds of eggs that will hatch into hungry, leaf-eating caterpillars in the coming spring. Large numbers of these invasive caterpillars can be a tremendous nuisance that may cause tree mortality.

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One Million Trees Now In Wisconsin Community Tree Map

Posted on by patricialindquist

By Dan Buckler, DNR Urban Forest Assessment Specialist, Milwaukee, Daniel.Buckler@wisconsin.gov or 608-445-4578 

Ever since it launched in 2017, the Wisconsin Community Tree Map has been building a collective inventory of urban trees across the state. Now a milestone has been passed: over one million trees are in the database, giving users an expansive look at much of our urban forest.

Visitors to the tree map, a compilation of tree inventories from over 200 organizations, can use the tool to learn more about their local trees, such as species composition, size distribution, or even some of the ecosystem services those trees provide. Users can filter by certain attributes or areas to further identify trees of interest. Overall, it can be a powerful management, scientific, marketing and educational tool.

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Young Tree Training Pruning Workshops

Posted on by patricialindquist

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and UW-Madison Extension have teamed up to offer young tree training pruning workshops at five locations around the state. Wachtel Tree Science will be presenting the information in a morning-indoors-afternoon-outside format. The cost is $35 including lunch, and ISA Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be offered. 

Set your trees up to thrive and help alleviate storm damage by properly pruning your trees when they’re young. It’s an excellent investment of resources providing exponential savings in the future.

Please register ASAP as these start in just a couple weeks.

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