Art Kabelowsky, DNR Forest Health outreach and communications specialist
Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov or 608-335-0167
Add “YouTube Influencer” to the long list of career accomplishments of Andrea Diss-Torrance, Ph.D.
With the spongy moth caterpillar population on the rise in many areas of Wisconsin this season, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources stepped into action last month.
Art Kabelowsky, DNR Forest Health outreach and communications specialist
Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov or 608-335-0167
The statewide quarantine for emerald ash borer will end July 1, as one of several permanent rule changes proposed by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Changes are coming to some of Wisconsin’s rules for plant inspection and plant control, following legislative approval of a proposal from the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP).
The rule changes for ATCP 21 (Clearinghouse Rule CR 22-022), in the works since 2020, will go into effect on July 1.
One of the permanent rule changes involves the end of the state quarantine for emerald ash borer. Other quarantines to be rescinded are those for pine shoot beetle and thousand cankers disease of walnut trees.
The changes were recommended by DATCP for one or more of the following reasons: a lack of serious pest impacts, the quarantine outliving its ability to contain the pest, and/or federal deregulation.
Oak leafroller caterpillars web leaves together as they feed. Photo: Wisconsin DNR.
Linda Williams, DNR Forest Health Specialist, Woodruff
Linda.Williams@wisconsin.gov or 920-360-0665
Watch for defoliators in your oak trees this summer. You may have already heard news reports about spongy moth caterpillar populations being high this year, but there are some native caterpillars to watch for this year as well.
In 2022, oak leafroller caterpillars caused significant defoliation to oaks in areas of northeastern and northwestern Wisconsin, as well as in Blue Mound State Park. Many other areas experienced lesser amounts of defoliation from oak leafroller.
Emerald ash borer has been discovered in Polk County for the first time. The invasive pest now has been found in 68 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties. Photo: Wisconsin DNR.
Paul Cigan, DNR plant pest and disease specialist
715-416-4920 or Paul.Cigan@wisconsin.gov
Emerald ash borer (EAB) was detected for the first time in Polk County this spring, making it the 68th of Wisconsin’s 72 counties in which the invasive pest was found since it was first discovered in the state in 2008.
Several green ash trees with woodpecker flecking were observed in the roadside right-of-way along 100th Avenue in the Town of Osceola during field work.
Two larvae were collected from an infested tree and officially confirmed as EAB by a USDA-APHIS identifier on May 8, 2023.
No regulatory changes have resulted from this detection because EAB was federally deregulated on Jan. 14, 2021, and Wisconsin instituted a statewide quarantine in 2018.
EAB will continue to spread in northern Wisconsin, significantly impacting the ash resource. This is a good time to review the DNR’s updated emerald ash borer webpage for information and resource links on EAB, along with the DNR’s EAB Silviculture Guidelines to become familiar with or to refresh on ash stand management options.
DATCP, DNR, UW Extension and tribal partners continue to track EAB’s spread, sharing detection information through online maps available to Wisconsin’s citizens, private businesses and governmental entities. The goal is to aid in EAB readiness planning, pest management and biological control activities.
With more than 20 new city/town/village detections already reported statewide in 2023, map updates continue to occur on a biweekly basis. To see where EAB has been found in Wisconsin or to report new municipal detections, please visit the Wisconsin EAB online detections map or PDF map.
Grazing goats can reach as high as six feet to munch on leaves, which they prefer to grasses and stems. Photo: Wisconsin DNR.
Art Kabelowsky, DNR Forest Health outreach and communications specialist
Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov or 608-335-0167
“Who do you know wants to rent a goat?”
Milwaukee television viewers of a certain age might recognize that twist on the old commercial slogan of automobile dealer Ernie Von Schledorn: “Who do you know wants to buy a car?”
Although Ernie is no longer around, the idea of having foresters use goat grazing to control interfering vegetation remains in use.
It’s a discussion worth talking about — and listening to.
Goat grazing was the topic of a recent edition of SilviCast, a monthly podcast about silviculture produced as part of a collaborative effort between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Wisconsin Forestry Center, based at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Cory McCurry, an arborologist with Rainbow Ecoscience, talks with DNR Parks and Forest Health employees while demonstrating the use of a nozzle component of the Q-Connect tree injection system currently in use at state properties. Photo: Wisconsin DNR.
Art Kabelowsky, DNR Forest Health outreach and communications specialist
Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov or 608-335-0167
LAKE GENEVA, Wisconsin — Fifteen employees of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources gathered at Big Foot Beach State Park on May 16 to learn more about using injections of systemic pesticides to protect the health of high-value trees at state properties.
Ten Wisconsin State Parks employees and five members of the DNR’s Forest Health team met with representatives of Rainbow Ecoscience and Bartlett Tree Experts to witness a demonstration of best practices for tree injections.
Art Kabelowsky, DNR Forest Health outreach and communications specialist
Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov or 608-335-0167
Dozens of garlic mustard aphids feed on the underside of a garlic mustard leaf in Michigan. The small, dark aphids, originally from Europe, have been found in Wisconsin and other states after first being discovered in Ohio in 2021. Photo: Rebecah Troutman, Holden Forests and Gardens, Kirtland, Ohio.
A new tool in the effort to fight invasive garlic mustard appears ready to make its move in Wisconsin.
The garlic mustard aphid, Lipaphis alliariae, has been moving westward after being discovered in Ohio in 2021. Since then, isolated populations have also been found in Wisconsin, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan and Minnesota.
By Bill McNee, Forest Health Specialist, Oshkosh
bill.mcnee@wisconsin.gov or 920-360-0942
Mature spongy moth caterpillar on a leaf. Photo: Bill McNee, Wisconsin DNR
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Forest Health staff are cautioning Wisconsin residents that the next two months could bring the worst spongy moth outbreak in more than a decade.
The caterpillars of this invasive insect prefer to feed on oak, birch, crabapple, aspen and willow leaves, but will also feed on many other tree and shrub species.
Southern Wisconsin and parts of the north are already in a high-population outbreak that is predicted to continue and spread. Populations have remained high due to a low incidence of caterpillar-killing diseases last summer. In addition, weather conditions in 2023 are favorable for the caterpillars and unfavorable for Entomophaga maimaiga, a fungus that kills spongy moth caterpillars.
Property owners are encouraged to examine their trees and take action. Specifically:
A spongy moth larva eats a leaf.
By Paul Cigan, DNR plant pest and disease specialist
Paul.Cigan@wisconsin.gov or 715-416-4920
In early April, Douglas County became the 53rd Wisconsin county added to the state’s spongy moth quarantine list after a discovery that the invasive insect (formerly known as gypsy moth) had become established in the county.
The United States Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) made the determination based on results of a monitoring program of adult moths and other life stages.
Continue reading “Douglas County Joins Spongy Moth Quarantine”
By Kyle Loughlin, Field Team Lead, USDA-APHIS
kyle.m.loughlin@usda.govor 734-732-0025
USDA staff cut a ‘bark window’ in green ash to uncover signs of emerald ash borer. Photo: US Department of Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is asking Wisconsin landowners for help in the battle against emerald ash borer (EAB).
EAB is an invasive insect from Asia that was first introduced into the United States in 2002. Since its discovery, EAB has caused the death and decline of tens of millions of ash trees.
The USDA is asking Wisconsin landowners to donate live ash trees infested with EAB to support USDA’s biological control program. The staff will use the wood to rear EAB’s natural enemies, which will then be released in Wisconsin and 31 other EAB-infested states and Washington, D.C.
Continue reading “USDA Seeks Donations Of Infested Ash Trees”
