Winter sun over eastern hemlock along a Chagrin River tributary in Kirtland, Ohio. Thanks to Albert Jackson for the picture. Got a good photo? Send it my way to be featured in an upcoming newsletter! | |
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Hi all,
It’s February! Are you ready for spring yet? Get ready to grow with our latest news.
-Rachel Kappler
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New Buckeye State Tree Nursery in Zainesville, Ohio! Get excited, partners, because one of the goals of the Buckeye State Tree Nursery is to assist with tree conservation projects and genetically suitable seedlings. Read their announcement to get more information and if you have any questions, the point person is Stephen Rist (SE District Forest Manager) at Stephen.Rist@dnr.ohio.gov.
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National Invasive Species Awareness Week is February 26–March 1, 2024 From the North American Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA) website: National Invasive Species Awareness Week (NISAW) is an international event to raise awareness about invasive species, the threat that they pose, and what can be done to prevent their spread.
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The GLB FHC is interested in assisting with coordination of resistance breeding activities for American elm. Since the last newsletter, Rachel has presented to potential partners in Maryland on how to ID and report survivor elms and lingering ash. We look forward to hearing from partners what their work has entailed so far and how the GLB FHC can help. Please reach out if you would like to share your efforts with elm and if you have any questions.
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Elm on Holden F&G property. | |
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Updated BLD confirmed locations map from December 2023:
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Beech bark disease reassessment. MSU researchers Nick Zoller and Deborah G. McCullough reassessed plots monitoring beech bark disease after 20 years. “Across all 60 sites, the proportion of beech basal area killed by beech bark disease has increased from 5% in 2003 to 24% in 2013 to 36% as of 2023. An average of 58% and 22% of beech basal area is now dead in the U.P. and Lower Michigan sites, respectively. Density of beech saplings more than doubled between 2013 and 2023, especially in the U.P.” The good news is that all leaves tested were negative for beech leaf disease (MiDNR Forest Health Highlights Report 2023).
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Green ash seed at Holden F&G Photo: R. Kappler | |
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Research has begun on the first seed produced in the planting that will eventually become the Holden F&G seed orchard. The Holden planting contains grafted stems (ramets) of lingering ash trees. This year, the U.S. Forest Service will assess the germination rate of these seed lots to identify which are high enough quality to be included in progeny plantings. Future research will include establishing plantings to rate the resistance of the progeny trees against EAB over time and estimating the overall genetic diversity of the orchards. Progeny test plantings may also be turned into seed orchards for ash reforestation in the long term.
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New update for hemlock on the Treesnap app. If your phone doesn't auto update, be sure to update Treesnap via your app store to version 1.19.4. Use Treesnap if you are in an area that has already had high eastern hemlock mortality and find a lingering hemlock to report.
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The Invasive Species Centre successfully launched the HWA Monitoring Network, an eDNA citizen science project last year. This eDNA method was developed at Grand Valley State University by Dr. Charlyn Partridge, Meg Sanders, et al. (see the research article below). At the HWA Monitoring Network webpage you can register to be considered for 2024 monitoring season using eDNA traps on your property. Selection of citizen scientists happens in March 2024 so if space is not available for you to assist this year, your registration will be placed on a list of potential volunteers for 2025. The Network offers resources and training on other methods for monitoring HWA in your hemlock stands as well. From this year's efforts, 44/50 traps were successfully deployed and retrieved with 1 new HWA location found. The Invasive Species Centre will use what they learned this year to improve and increase their number of eDNA traps across even more at-risk areas in Ontario.
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Eastern hemlock research at Holden F&G. Projects are in the early stages of research to facilitate a hemlock breeding program at Holden. Projects goals include screening hemlocks for hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) resistance, inducing early cone development, and improving air layering and cuttings propagation methods. Screening for resistance will include passive (test trees planted within infested stands) and active (test trees have HWA egg masses attached to them) HWA application methods. Air layering preliminary results agree with the literature where root development is more likely to occur when using young (5 yr old) potted hemlocks than mature forest hemlock.
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Prepping a potted hemlock for air layering at Holden F&G Photo: C. Obrebski | |
Have an update to share in the next GLB FHC newsletter? Email us! | |
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Partner Spotlight:
Ecological Research Institute
monitoringash.org
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Our partner spotlight is on the Ecological Research Institute (ERI), which runs the Monitoring and Managing Ash (MaMA) program. ERI is directed by Jonathan Rosenthal and Dr. Radka Wildova, who are experts on invasive species and are involved in related outreach, research, policy, and management initiatives. In addition to MaMA, they also are deeply involved in conservation initiatives for eastern hemlock. ERI works with many partner organizations throughout New York, where they are based, and New England.
MaMA uses data contributed to its citizen science projects to enable efficient searching for lingering ash. All these projects use the Anecdata citizen platform and can be accessed via the Anecdata app or by visiting www.Anecdata.org. They include MaMA Ash/EAB Surveys, MaMA Ash Monitoring Plots Network, and MaMA Rapid Ash Mortality Assessment, all of which all gather information needed to determine where and when to search for lingering ash; they also include MaMA Lingering Ash, which enables not only reporting of lingering ash found opportunistically, but also the results of systematic searches for such trees. The MaMA program has enabled the detection of the first 100 lingering ash in New York, especially in the Lower Hudson, Catskills, and Finger Lakes regions as well as the collection of material from some of them for resistance breeding.
ERI offers in-person workshops and online recorded trainings for MaMA, including on how to integrate lingering ash detection into overall ash management strategies, and has partnered with many conservation NGOs, agencies and natural resource management professional societies to provide workshops across the region. For more information on MaMA, please visit www.MonitoringAsh.org. You are also encouraged to reach out directly to Rosenthal (jrosenthal@ecoresearchinstitute.com) and Wildova (rwildova@ecoresearchinstitute.com).
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Jonathan Rosenthal (center) training others how to record data on ash trees. Photo: R. Wildova | |
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Have an update to share in the next GLB FHC newsletter? Email us!
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Report a survivor American elm. Besides using Treesnap to report large (+22 inch DBH) American elms, you can also use ArcGIS survey123.
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Start a lingering ash orchard/planting. We’re looking for more organizations that can host a long-term fenced lingering ash orchard/planting in the future. Please reach out if you are potentially interested, and let us know how much space you have and whether you’d need funding to help get it started. Already-running nurseries and orchards are great contenders, but planting fenced trees on state land or conservation easements may also be possible.
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Set up a workshop. As always, training workshops to help with monitoring, seed collection, tree propagation, grafting, using the TreeSnap app, and more are available online or in-person. Contact Rachel Kappler today to set one up for your organization!
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Novel early detection methods for HWA. Researchers who work with eDNA will be excited to read how well airborne DNA detection works for hemlock woolly adelgid. (Sanders et al. 2023 J Econ Entomol)
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Cold-storing tissues of green and white ash for conservation and restoration. Researchers at the University of Georgia tested methods for cryopreservation for long-term storage of ash germplasm in the form of embryogenic cultures, that is, tissue samples that can be regrown into trees. The most effective method resulted in a 91% recovery rate of the frozen tissues. (Richins et al. 2024 Plants)
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Quantifying leaf symptoms of BLD. A team from Yale systematically compared leaves with and without beech leaf disease. On average, symptomatic BLD increased leaf mass per area 45% and leaf thickness 249%. Spongy mesophyll in particular was thickened (410%). Symptomatic areas had fewer minor veins and fewer stomata, but major veins were not affected. (Fletcher et al. 2023 Forest Pathology)
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Deer hinder growth, survival, and regeneration of juvenile hemlocks. University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers monitored over 1,000 juvenile hemlocks across Wisconsin and Michigan, half of which were protected from deer. They found significant reductions in survival and growth due to deer browsing. (Surprison Alverson et al. 2024 Forest Ecology & Management)
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Beech bark disease does not reduce long term wood production. A regional collaboration studied aboveground wood productivity in middle- and late-successional stands impacted by BBD. The found that “the aboveground wood NPP of two forest stands increased through late stages of BBD, despite differences in stand productivity, structure, and age, while patch-scale aboveground wood NPP responses were more variable.” (Stuart-Haëntjens et al. 2023 Forest Ecology & Management)
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High-tech detection of ash death and declines using drones and deep learning. West Virginia University plant scientists teamed up with members of their department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering to develop a new way to detect large-scale ash health using drone photos. They trained a computer program to recognize dead or declining ash trees in the aerial photos, and were able to achieve a mean average precision of 0.79. (Keerthi Valicharla et al. 2023 Plants (Basel))
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The Great Lakes Basin Forest Health Collaborative is an initiative co-sponsored by Holden Forests & Gardens and the USDA Forest Service, funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. | |
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MISSION: Holden Forests & Gardens connects people with the wonder, beauty, and
value of trees and plants, to inspire action for healthy communities
VISION: All communities transformed into vibrant places where trees, plants, and people thrive
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