2024 DNR Urban Forestry Grant Application Period Opening Soon

Posted on by patricialindquist

Applications for Urban Forestry Grants are opening soon!

Beginning June 30, 2023, cities, villages, towns, counties, tribes and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in or conducting their project in Wisconsin can apply for a regular or startup 2024 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Urban Forestry Grant.

The grants range from $1,000 to $25,000, and grant recipients must match each grant dollar for dollar. A startup grant of up to $5,000 is available for communities that want to start or restart a community forestry program. Grants are awarded to projects that align with state and national goals for increasing the urban forest canopy and its benefits. Also available this grant cycle is an additional $145,000 in federal funding to be used for emerald ash borer treatment and ash tree removals and replacements.

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Grant Opportunity Funds Nature-Based Solutions To Promote Resilient Transportation

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The PROTECT Discretionary Grant Program is a new grant opportunity available through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Highway Administration. PROTECT stands for Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient and Cost-Saving Transportation.

This new program funds projects addressing the climate resilience of transportation systems, including improving highways, public transportation, ports and intercity passenger rail. Selected projects will use innovative and collaborative approaches to risk reduction through the use of nature-based solutions, including conservation, restoration or construction of shade trees, native vegetation, bioswales, marshes, wetlands, breakwaters, reefs and dunes. These methods will help reduce heat impacts, flood risks, erosion and wave damage while also creating habitat, filtering pollutants and providing recreational benefits. 

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Invasive Plant Control Database

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Photo credit: Joseph O’Brien, USDA Forest Service, bugwood.org

Are you looking for information on how to control buckthorn, honeysuckle or garlic mustard? The Invasive Plant Control Database from the Midwest Invasive Plant Network is a terrific resource for learning about the most effective chemical and non-chemical control methods for dozens of invasive plants in the Midwest.

Information was collected from both scientific literature and expert opinions and summarized by the Midwest Invasive Plant Network in partnership with the Mark Renz Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For each species, information was reviewed by four individuals, including two who identified as experts on control of that species.

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Willow Identification And Management Class

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Riveredge Nature Center in Saukville, located in southeastern Wisconsin, is offering a class on willow identification and management on Friday, June 23, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Expand your restoration skillsets by getting past the Genus Salix to further your understanding of willow species identification, their habitat needs and their importance for pollinators. Follow Zach Khron and Matt Smith into off-trail areas of Riveredge’s uncommon habitats to find willow populations, identify at the species level and discuss management. We will start our day in the lab to review herbarium specimens and end it in the field.

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Madison Welcomes New City Forester

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The city of Madison is happy to announce Ian Brown as the new City of Madison Forester.

Brown will lead the Streets Division’s Urban Forestry section. He joins the city after 17 years of public urban forestry experience, most recently as a Forestry District Manager for the city of Milwaukee for the past 7 years.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota – Morris in biology and a Master of Science in natural resource management with a focus in urban forestry from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point.

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Are Native Trees The Right Fit For Our Downtowns?

Posted on by patricialindquist

By Kim Ballard, Project Canopy, kim.ballard@maine.gov

Photo credit: David Lee, bugwood.org

This article was first published on the website of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry. Reprinted with permission.

As urban foresters, we are often asked, “Why do you recommend planting a non-native tree in front of my house/on my sidewalk/in that parking lot?” The question is complex and has as many answers as there are environments in Maine. But it all boils down to “right tree, right place.”

Maine is the most forested state in the nation. Along with our beloved state tree, the eastern white pine, our forests are full of sugar maple, red oak, white birch and eastern hemlock. If you get a chance to wander through these native woods, you’ll notice that the shady air is cooler, moister and perhaps not as breezy as the air around your neighborhood sidewalks. Trees planted in our downtowns face a whole host of conditions – solar reflection, drought, soil compaction, road salt, tunneling winds that forest trees rarely encounter. Can you imagine a majestic white pine on Congress Street in Portland? Even if it could survive, it certainly wouldn’t be very happy. Our downtowns are NOT native spaces, and they cannot support our native species appropriately.

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White Pine Weevil Damage And Management Options

Posted on by akabelowsky

By Linda Williams, DNR Forest Health Specialist, Woodruff
Linda.Williams@wisconsin.gov or 920-360-0665

Photo of a white pine tree showing weevil damage.

A dead terminal leader, resulting from an attack by white pine weevil. Photo: Linda Williams, Wisconsin DNR.

White pine weevil (Pissodes strobi) is a native insect that can kill the terminal leader of white pine, jack pine and spruce. Wisconsinites often refer to this insect as Tip Weevil.

The insects prefer to attack stout terminal leaders. When the terminal leader dies, lateral branches grow upward and compete to take over apical dominance. This can leave a noticeable crook for decades. If two or more lateral branches take over, forking can occur. New terminal leaders may be attacked in subsequent years, causing more crook or forking.

Spruce and jack pine tend to recover better from weevil damage than white pine because the lateral branch that takes over apical dominance often creates a less prominent crook.

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Is it Invasive Giant Hogweed?

Posted on by akabelowsky

Erika Segerson-Mueller, DNR Forest Health invasive plants program specialist, Oshkosh
Erika.SegersonMueller@wisconsin.gov or 715-492-0391

Photo of umbel of a giant hogweed plant.

Umbel of a giant hogweed plant. This invasive plant can grow stems 2-4 inches in diameter and can grow as tall as 15 feet. Photo: USDA APHIS PPQ, Oxford, North Carolina; Bugwood.org

This time of year, calls start rolling in about potential sightings of the invasive plant giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum). Although occurrences of the plant remain rare in Wisconsin, from late May through early July giant hogweed is often confused with a native plant, cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum).

Both are large plants with similar habitat preferences. They prefer shady areas and are often found along stream banks, roadsides and ditches. Giant hogweed is a prohibited species under Wisconsin’s Invasive Species Rule NR40. Its fast growth rate crowds out native vegetation and erodes soil, and skin contact can potentially cause irritation.

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Eastern Tent Caterpillar Webs Common

Posted on by akabelowsky

Linda Williams, DNR Forest Health Specialist, Woodruff
Linda.Williams@wisconsin.gov or 920-360-0665

Photo of web of eastern tent caterpillars.

Eastern tent caterpillars and their webs start out small but grow quickly. Photo: Linda Williams, Wisconsin DNR.

Have you seen trees along roadsides with white webs in them? Eastern tent caterpillars (ETC) are hatching and beginning to feed on host trees, including cherry, apple and crabapple.

Landowners and homeowners may notice the white silken tents forming in branch forks. Although they form unsightly nests, ETC is a native insect, so management is not typically necessary. Even completely defoliated trees will produce new leaves within a few weeks.

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Diseases Take Aim At Spongy Moth

Posted on by akabelowsky
Photo of tree showing caterpillars killed by virus and fungus

Caterpillars killed by nucleopolyhedrosis virus (NPV) hang in an inverted “V” orientation; caterpillars killed by the fungus Entomophaga maimaiga hang vertically. Photo: Wisconsin DNR.

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

With this spring’s dry weather in Wisconsin came predictions of the largest spongy moth population in years.

When spongy moth populations are high, we often see heavy mortality of the larger caterpillars due to two pathogens. Heavy caterpillar mortality will reduce the severity of the following year’s outbreak and often causes a population crash during the current year. If a heavy die-off of caterpillars is observed, please let your local DNR Forest Health Specialist know about it.

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