Best Management Practices

Studies Find Small Urban Forests Can Help Cool Cities

Posted on by kirsten.biefeld

Heat waves are no joke. Temperatures can increase to a dangerous level, exacerbating existing health issues, induce heat stroke, and can even result in death. Increased temperatures do not affect all communities evenly, however.

Studies have found that the highest temperatures and the most heat-related deaths occur in urban areas. Concrete, asphalt, and other paved surfaces often readily absorb and release heat, causing a phenomenon known as an urban heat island effect.

Urban land managers have the potential to mitigate some of this heat island effect with the types of foliage they incorporate into their landscape designs.  Studies find that tree canopy cover can provide shade that reduce the heat absorbed in paved surfaces and lower surface temperature in general. However, many policies that try to implement urban forests as cooling effects focus on large green spaces, which are often not feasible in urban areas. Continue reading “Studies Find Small Urban Forests Can Help Cool Cities” →

EAB Identified For The First Time In Forest And Ashland County

Posted on by brenna.denamur

By Linda Williams, DNR Forest Health Specialist, Woodruff, Linda.Williams@wisconsin.gov, 920-360-0665 & Paul Cigan, DNR Forest Health Specialist, Hayward, Paul.Cigan@wisconsin.gov, 715-416-4920

Emerald ash borer (EAB) has been detected for the first time in Forest County in the Town of Armstrong Creek and Ashland County in the City of Ashland. The Forest County detection was most likely a natural expansion of other infestations in Florence and Marinette counties.

Bark has been removed from an ash tree to show EAB tunnels present near the base of the tree.

This Forest County tree was infested with EAB top to bottom. Photo: Wisconsin DNR

The Ashland County detections appear to be isolated infestations likely spread through the transportation of firewood or logs. Several large green ash stands in the City of Ashland show advanced infestation signs.

EAB was first found in Wisconsin in 2008. There are now just seven counties where EAB has not yet been identified. EAB was federally deregulated as of January 2021. In 2018, Wisconsin instituted a state-wide quarantine. This discovery in Forest and Ashland counties will result in no regulatory changes.

Please visit the interactive Wisconsin EAB detections map to see where EAB has been reported. Follow the map’s instructions if you know of an infested area not on the map. Continue reading “EAB Identified For The First Time In Forest And Ashland County” →

Invasive plant management on roadsides workshops

Posted on by margueriterapp

Invasive plants have been shown to impact Wisconsin’s economy, environment and human health. Roadsides are a key area where these unwanted plants establish and spread. These right of way habitats are challenging to work in but focused efforts can be successful in preventing spread and reduce invasive plant populations.

To help educate and jumpstart management, The University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension along with 4-Control are conducting roadside invasive plant workshops throughout the state. We invite you to attend one of these five regional workshops. While this training is available to anyone interested, the focus will be on training staff of municipalities that manage vegetation on roadsides. Continue reading “Invasive plant management on roadsides workshops” →

Public comment period for EAB silviculture guidelines revision closes October 9

Posted on by jodieellis

By Bill McNee, forest health specialist, Oshkosh. Bill.McNee@wisconsin.gov; 920-360-0942

Ash trees dying from an EAB infestation. Photo: Troy Kimoto, Bugwood.org

Ash trees dying from an EAB infestation. Photo: Troy Kimoto, Bugwood.org

The Wisconsin DNR is seeking public comments on a proposed revision to silviculture guidelines for emerald ash borer (EAB). Stand-level EAB silviculture guidelines were originally released in 2007, with periodic reviews and updates. A DNR technical team and stakeholder advisory committee prepared the current version using multiple sources of information, including recent research findings, identification and locations of new EAB infestations, economic considerations, and experience gained from implementing previous versions of the guidelines.

The draft document and information about the public comment process can be found at  https://dnr.wi.gov/news/input/Guidance.html#open through Tuesday, October 9, 2018. All comments must be submitted by that date.

BMPs found to protect water quality

Posted on by Kirsten Held
Map of 2015 BMP Monitoring Sites on private, nonindustrial forestland in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin forestland sites monitored by the 2015 BMP teams. Coniferous trees represent sites that were in the Managed Forest Law (MFL) program and deciduous trees represent sites not in the MFL program. Note: Some dots are close together making the total number of sites difficult to determine on this map.

Newly-released results from 2015 monitoring for the application and effectiveness of Wisconsin’s Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Water Quality show excellent results. The effectiveness of BMPs that were applied correctly was extremely high (99.6%) at protecting water quality, but when BMPs were applied incorrectly or not applied, BMP effectiveness rates woefully dropped (6.3% and 9.4% respectively).  Even with the low water quality protection of BMPs that were applied incorrectly and not applied, no major impacts were reported on any of the monitored sites.   Read more details about the results from the monitoring of 36 non-industrial private forestland (NIPF) sites (26 of the landowners are enrolled in the MFL program) in the 2015 BMP Monitoring Report.

For more information, contact Forest Hydrologist Dave Kafura, david.kafura@wisconsin.gov, (715) 416-4140