Tips For Holding Tree Planting And Distribution Events During COVID-19

The Arbor Day Foundation has created a short guide for holding safer tree planting and distribution events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The guide includes tips for planning the event, communicating with volunteers and suggesting processes for tree distribution and planting. The guide also features additional tips for dealing with water, snacks and tools and more.

As emphasized in the guide, be sure to comply with local guidelines from your community health authorities.

To download the guide, visit the webpage here.

You can also view a short video summarizing information from the guide here.

Funding Opportunities Available Through the DNR

Local units of government (LUGs) are eligible to apply for four Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program grants and two related federal programs administered by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The annual application deadline is May 1, 2021, for the grant programs listed below.

Knowles-Nelson Stewardship local assistance grant programs:

  • Aids for the Acquisition and Development of Local Parks (ADLP)
  • Urban Green Space (UGS) grants
  • Urban Rivers (UR) grants
  • Acquisition of Development Rights (ADR)

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1000 Friends Of Wisconsin’s Leafing Out Webinar Series

Leafing Out, Episode 4: Selecting Your Tree, Fruit Trees with Paul Schwabe

Thursday, March 25, 2021, 12:00-1:00 PM

This webinar has been produced in collaboration with the Dane County Tree Board

Join 1000 Friends and Paul Schwabe from Johnson’s Nursery in Menomonee Falls to hear the secrets to a bountiful fruit tree. Paul is a sales rep at Johnson’s Nursery and has many years of wisdom to share with us.

Paul will cover the optimal site conditions for fruit trees and then grow your knowledge of apple and peach trees during his presentation. When his talk is finished, Paul will be available for any of your fruit tree questions.

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Fall Workshop Series Now Available on Video

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Urban Forestry and UW-Madison, Division of Extension Fall 2020 Workshop Series is now available for viewing on YouTube. Use the links below to watch the videos:

Please complete the survey in the comments section on YouTube after viewing each video.

First-Ever Virtual WAA and WDNR Urban Forestry Conference A Success!

Thank you to the more than 450 people who joined us for the first-ever virtual Wisconsin Arborist Association (WAA) and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Urban Forestry Annual Conference. The conference’s theme was “Sustaining Urban Forests to Ensure a Healthy Future,” held on February 21-23.

In collaboration with the WAA, DNR staff worked hard to transition the annual conference to a virtual format. The conference retained key elements it has become renowned for, including engaging presentations, a welcome by State Forester Heather Berklund, a well-attended exhibition “hall,” an enjoyable session of ArborMaster Trivia and the annual awards ceremony shared by the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council and the WAA awards program.

The DNR exhibition booth featured a new video by Grant Manager Chase O’Brien and Finance Specialist Nicolle Spafford and live Q&A sessions with O’Brien, Spafford, and Forest Health Specialist Bill McNee.

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Seedlings Still Available for Spring 2021 Planting

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) still has native tree and shrub seedlings available for spring planting.

Conifers available include jack pine 1-0 and 2-0, red pine 3-0, white pine 2-0 and tamarack 2-0. The pines tend to grow fast and perform the best in well-drained soils. The tamarack can grow in wetter soils. All are great for providing thermal cover to wildlife in the winter or privacy along a property line.

Hardwoods include river and white birch, black cherry, hackberry, silver maple, bur and red oaks, sycamore and black walnut. Many of these hardwoods provide forage or mast for wildlife and grow quickly in fertile soils.

Black cherry will begin producing fruit as soon as five years and aspen and birch provide buds for grouse even faster. The oaks and walnut take a while to produce acorns and nuts, but they will supply wildlife with food for many years once they begin. The silver maple, hackberry and sycamore thrive in wetter soils, giving those in heavy clay or lowland sites an opportunity for arboreal cover.

Consider talking to a DNR forester to get more information on tree planting and forest management. A good planting plan can focus a landowner’s efforts and create a strategy to achieve all their property goals. Find a forester near you using the DNR’s Forestry Assistance Locator webpage

For up-to-date information on seedling availability, please contact the state nursery at 715-424-3700. To order seedlings, print off a seedling application form here.  To have the ordering form sent to your residence, please contact a DNR forester near you or nursery staff.

Seedlings sold by the Wisconsin DNR are only for planting in Wisconsin and for reforestation, wildlife habitat and windbreak and erosion control purposes.

For more information about tree planting in Wisconsin using seedlings from state nurseries, please review our Frequently Asked Questions.

Oak Wilt Vectors Emergence User Interface Now Available

By Kyoko Scanlon, Forest Pathologist, Kyoko.Scanlon@wisconsin.gov or 608-235-7532 and Elly Voigt, Forest Health Communications Specialist and Lab Technician, Eleanor.Voigt@wisconsin.gov

Oak wilt is a serious disease of oaks that spreads to new areas when insects carrying oak wilt fungal spores land on a fresh wound of a healthy oak tree. To prevent oak wilt infections, it is important to avoid pruning, wounding and harvesting of oaks when these insects are abundant.

Predicting when these insects emerge in spring can be difficult as their emergence is highly weather-dependent and spring weather varies significantly year to year. The good news is that a new online interface is now available to provide users with localized information about the emergence status of the two most important insects that transmit oak wilt in Wisconsin. Because the interface uses a degree-day model constructed from insect trapping data and actual weather data, it is useful to refine the beginning of the periods when pruning, wounding and harvesting of oaks should be avoided.

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Porcupine Damage Easily Seen In Winter

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

Porcupines can damage both conifer and hardwood trees by eating their bark. On sunny days, the bright, white wood where the bark has been stripped readily stands out in the forest, especially on hardwoods. Porcupines can remove large areas of bark, at times enough to completely girdle the trunk or branches. This causes the tree to die from the girdle point upwards on the trunk or outwards on the branch.

Trees and branches that are not entirely girdled will continue to grow and callus tissue will begin to grow over the wounds. On hardwoods, the trunk or branches that are nearly girdled may leaf out in the spring, only to have those leaves suddenly wilt and die as hot weather hits because the tree cannot move enough water to keep the leaves alive. On conifers, the needles may wilt and turn reddish-brown in hot weather. There are no treatment recommendations for porcupine damage.

fresh porcupine damage on a red pine

Porcupine feeding damage on red pine. Photo by Linda Williams, Wisconsin DNR

Snow Fleas Come To The Surface

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

Snow fleas are a species of springtails that are active during the winter and are generally found in groups where their dark-colored bodies stand out against the white snow. While often observed in late winter or early spring, they also come to the surface on warm winter days. Cold weather drives snow fleas back below the surface to wait for better weather. 

Many snow fleas on snow.

Easily mistaken for specks of dirt or debris, snow fleas are tiny soil-dwelling animals that gather on the surface of the snow on warm winter and spring days.

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Join Virtual Q&A Sessions With DNR Experts

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Urban Forestry program will have a virtual booth at the 2021 WAA/DNR Urban Forestry Annual Conference, Feb. 21-23, 2021. Our virtual booth will feature a new video on our grant program and live group Q&A sessions with our grant and forest health specialists.

A virtual booth could be described as a hybrid between a Zoom call and a website, with some additional features. If you’re attending the annual conference, you’ll have the opportunity to stop by our virtual booth, just as you would at an in-person meeting. Staff will be available to answer questions at set times, and there will be resources available to view and download.

A new video on our DNR Urban Forestry Grant program will be available to view in the booth throughout the conference. Created by DNR Finance Specialist Nicolle Spafford and DNR Grant Manager Chase O’Brien, the video will show you the program’s basics and inspire you to start projects of your own while seeing some successful programs across the state.

Join One Of These Live Q&A Sessions At Our Virtual Booth

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