Indiana bans walnut from neighboring states to prevent thousand canker disease
Posted on Wednesday, September 1, 2010The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has issued an emergency rule banning the transportation of walnut products from nine western states and Tennessee to prevent the introduction of thousand cankers disease. Although the disease has not been found in Indiana, it is a major threat to the state's black walnut resource.
Forest Service updates free guide to invasive plants in Southern forests
Posted on Wednesday, August 4, 2010The USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) is offering gardeners, foresters, landowners and others concerned about nonnative invasive plants in the South free copies of "A Field Guide for the Identification of Invasive Plants in Southern Forests." The book is an update of the popular "Nonnative Invasive Plants of Southern Forests: A Field Guide for Identification and Control," published by the Station in 2003.
Emerald ash borer discovered in east Tennessee
Posted on Wednesday, August 4, 2010The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) has announced the discovery of emerald ash borer for the first time in the state. The detection of the destructive tree pest has led the TDA to plan for a quarantine in Knox and Loudon counties prohibiting the movement of firewood, ash nursery stock, ash timber and other material that can spread EAB.
MORE: Tennessee is also now dealing with the first instance of thousand cankers disease.Maine foresters say hemlock wooly adelgid is still spreading
Posted on Friday, July 30, 2010Last year's unusually warm winter contributed to the continued northeasterly spread of the hemlock wooly adelgid, and could ravage Maine's hemlock trees, according to forest service officials. The invasive pest has been found in 13 towns since May in Cumberland, Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties, and the list is expected to grow.
White bark pine forest mortality has far-reaching effects
Posted on Thursday, July 29, 2010A recent editorial in the New York Times discusses the white bark pine forests across Wyoming, Idaho and Montana that are dead or dying after being attacked by the mountain pine beetle and a disease called white pine blister rust. Warmer winters and summers have allowed the beetle to breed more quickly; just over half the white bark pine forests are dead; one-fourth have medium to high mortality; few forests have escaped some damage.The loss of the pines threatens rate of snowmelt, as well as habitat for bird species and grizzly bears, which feed heavily on pine nuts before hibernation.
Thousand cankers disease threatens 'uncontrollable outbreak'
Posted on Monday, July 26, 2010Just two years ago researchers discovered that a sudden decline in black walnut in Colorado was due to a combination of the walnut twig beetle and a fungus that infested the trees by hundreds of thousands, causing cankers and cutting off the flow of nutrients. According to a University of Colorado professor, "based on the patterns seen in the West, such a colonization could very possibly develop into an uncontrollable outbreak. This may ultimately have the potential to destroy black walnut in its native range."
MORE: Kansas, a gateway to the hardwood forests that extend from the Plains to the Atlantic Ocean, has issued a state quarantine to try and protect its more than 26 million black walnut trees.
Continental Dialogue meets October 5-6; registration now open
Posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010Registration is now open for the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases, October 5-6, 2010 at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. The meeting will feature
talks on curtailing pest introductions, various pathways of spread, the issue of firewood movement, citizen detection efforts, and more.
talks on curtailing pest introductions, various pathways of spread, the issue of firewood movement, citizen detection efforts, and more.
Worms, fungi wreak havoc on pine trees in Oklahoma
Posted on Tuesday, July 20, 2010A disease called pine wilt is being blamed for an outbreak of dead and dying pine trees across Oklahoma. Nematodes, tiny worms, get to pine trees on the backs of beetles and kill trees. The trees most susceptible to pine wilt are aged and/or non-native species.
APHIS releases risk assessment of firewood movement
Posted on Friday, July 9, 2010The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has just released a "Risk Assessment of the Movement of Firewood within the United States" (PDF) The Risk Assessment concludes that "Movement of firewood is a high-risk pathway for spreading non-native and native forest pests in the United States. We recommend that Federal and State regulatory agencies examine the current regulations for firewood movement and coordinate efforts to mitigate the potential risks, with primary focus on long-distance and urban area movement."
Asian longhorned beetle found in Boston
Posted on Wednesday, July 7, 2010The Asian longhorned beetle that is threatening many of New England's forests has been discovered in Boston, across the street from the country's oldest public arboretum. Teams of tree climbers and spotters, sent in by federal officials, have begun laboriously examining every tree vulnerable to the beetle within 1.5 miles.
