What: 60+ Years of Enhancing the Urban Forests in Wisconsin 
When: Feb. 16-18, 2025
Where: Hyatt & KI Convention Center – Green Bay, WI
Green Bay can’t wait for arborists to return for the WAA and Wisconsin DNR Annual Winter Conference! The program committee outdid themselves again with this year’s lineup. Continue reading “Register Now For The WAA/DNR Annual Conference, Feb. 16 – 18. 2025”
By Dan Buckler, DNR Urban Forest Assessment Specialist
Daniel.Buckler@wisconsin.gov or 608-445-4578
Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) assessments using aerial or satellite imagery have been one of the primary ways people estimate the extent of urban forests across an area of interest, whether it be a single park, a streetscape or a whole community.
Two recently released UTC resources are ready for use by Wisconsin communities and urban forestry practitioners. The first, TreeCanopy.us, is a mapping application that shows UTC and other land cover in urban areas across the country for 2017 and 2022. It also shows changes in canopy cover between those five years. Continue reading “New Tree Canopy Resources Released”
By Peter Lindblad, HNG News Reporter, PLindblad@hngnews.com
Reprinted with the author’s permission.
The price of wood is soaring. To save a little money, the technology education department at McFarland High School has devised an ingenuous DIY cost-saving scheme.
Since 2019, Steve Pennekamp’s woodworking classes have been milling their own lumber. The village, in a partnership with the students, provides the logs, removed from projects around town. Continue reading “Lumber Milling At McFarland High School”
The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist Municipal Specialist® credential will now be called ISA Certified Urban Forest Professional.
New Logo, Same Benefits
As an ISA Certified Urban Forest Professional, you continue showing the public, employers and peers that you have achieved the critical knowledge and skills needed to manage trees as a community asset providing societal benefits in an urban forest context. Continue reading “International Society Of Arboriculture Credential Renamed”
How do you learn to identify trees in the middle of a Wisconsin winter when most of the leaves are on the ground?
LEAF’s Winter Tree Key follows the dichotomous process of our regular tree key but uses detailed illustrations of buds, twigs and features other than leaves for identification. The key also includes an illustrated glossary defining the specific vocabulary involved in this process. Winter tree identification can be a bit more demanding. Continue reading “Winter Tree ID”
Great Lake Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program
The Great Lake Thriving Communities Grantmaking Partnership will distribute $40 million to organizations working in and for underserved communities throughout the Great Lakes region. All grants will be given to environmental and public health efforts in underserved communities across Region 5 as defined by EPA. Continue reading “Grant Opportunities”
*These training opportunities are provided as an information service only and do not constitute an endorsement from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Below is information on the online Arborist Certification study group, Climate Adaptation Planning series, Extension Landscape and Grounds Maintenance workshops and Woody Species Management training. Continue reading “Upcoming Trainings”
Large egg masses are seen on a tree at the Kettle Moraine State Forest-Southern Unit in 2021. / Photo Credit: Bill McNee, Wisconsin DNR
By Bill McNee, DNR Forest Health Specialist, Oshkosh
Bill.McNee@wisconsin.gov or 920-360-0942
Part Two of a report on spongy moth in Wisconsin in 2024 and 2025. Part One was published in December.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is encouraging property owners to examine their property for spongy moth egg masses and plan for action this spring if needed. Each spongy moth egg mass contains hundreds of eggs that will hatch into hungry, leaf-eating caterpillars this spring. Large numbers of these invasive caterpillars can be a tremendous nuisance that may cause tree mortality.
Continue reading “Make Plans Now To Fight Spongy Moth In 2025”
Winter is an ideal time to perform pruning and trimming work on oak leaves. / Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR
By Art Kabelowsky, DNR Outreach and Communications, Fitchburg
Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov or 608-335-0167
Winter is an ideal time to perform trimming, cutting and brush removal work on and near oak trees.
For one thing, it’s a low-risk period for the trees to be infected with oak wilt, a fungal disease spread by beetles. When a red oak is infected with oak wilt, it will die that year; the disease also stresses trees in the white oak group, often fatal with bur oaks and swamp white oaks.
Woodpecker flecking on green ash and white ash, from birds feeding on emerald ash borer larvae, will often be extensive and very noticeable. / Photo Credit: Linda Williams, Wisconsin DNR
By Linda Williams, DNR Forest Health Specialist, Woodruff
Linda.Williams@wisconsin.gov or 920-360-0665
Ash trees that are flecked by woodpeckers will have the outer layers of their bark chipped off by the birds. Woodpeckers do this to punch through the remaining bark more easily to get at the tasty emerald ash borer (EAB) larvae living there.
Flecking usually starts at the top of the tree, providing a sure sign that insects are under the bark. Although the problem could be caused by ash bark beetles, the more common culprit is EAB.
