COMMENTS

FROM THE CHAIR

Happy Summer, all.  When the days heat up, I always think of "the dog days of summer".  Earlier in my life I simply thought these are the days when dogs simply lie around panting and not being active.  Buthe these days actually get their name from Greeks and Romans.  Between 3 July and 11 August, the star Sirius (a.k.a., Dog Star) rises and gets close to the sun.  Not including our sun, Sirius is the brightest star in the sky.  The combination of these two stars is what the ancient people associated with our extreme weather and heat.  Living in North Carolina, I can say they were wrong.

As a reminder, on 22 July we will conduct a webinar entitled, "Volunteer Tree Stewardship: A Partnership Tree Keeper Program".  We also opened registration for our 13th Annual Great NC Tree Conference, being held in Greensboro on 15 and 16 September.  Follow the links below to learn more about each event and register.

Thank goodness for the shade of trees!  Have a safe and enjoyable July.

Jeff Kish

Board Chair, NC Urban Forest Council

Bartlett Tree Experts, Raleigh 

North Carolina Urban Forest Council

P.O. Box 37415

Raleigh, NC 27627

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Original news articles by Kathryn B. Reis

Public domain images from pxhere.com

NC Community Tree Webinar:

Volunteer Tree Stewardship: A Partnership Tree Keeper Program

Online webinar

July 22nd

2022 Great NC Tree Conference:  

Back to Basics

Greensboro, NC

September 15-16th

PARTNER EVENTS

NC GIC Water Symposium

McKimmon Center - Raleigh, NC

July 21

USFS Urban Forest Connections Webinar:  

Mitigating Urban Heat

Online discussion of policy, practice and research

August 10, 1:00 to 2:15 p.m.

COUNCIL NEWS

Long Term Effects of Extended Drought on Trees

by Danny VanDevender 

Founder, Landscape Design of Goldsboro

As of this writing, much of North Carolina has seen its first one-inch plus of rain in seven months. It has been an extremely dry spring and early summer. This shortfall of rain follows this year's dry winter plus last year's dry spring/summer. We seemed to have moved from an agricultural drought to a hydraulic drought, causing rain depravation problems that penetrate below the land's top six-inches of soil. 

In Goldsboro, for example, our tree farm staff will dig trees, leaving behind a hole as deep as 35-inces. These holes continue to be very dry, even during the winter. We have never seen it this dry for so long during our 40 years of checking soil moisture at a 35-inch depth. When soil is this dry at such depths for so long, the lasting impact on trees include damaged root structures (e.g., death of fine root hairs); leaf scorch and defoliation; increase susceptibility to boring insects, disease and parasites; branch dieback; and perhaps death.

Please pay special attention to our state's urban trees for the next few seasons. Once it starts raining again and the surface waters return, we tend to forget about the drought. Trees don't forget. This summer there may be trees that fail to survive. The density of hazard trees will likely increase. Our dogwoods may not recover. And that tree in the construction zone, the one that that had at least 40-percent of its root system cut away two years ago, may take a turn for the worse.

Remember to study the past rainfall totals for your area; not just two months ago but three years ago. Trees are a great organism, but they are not a big fan of extremes. While you are researching your community's drought records, also look for excessive rainfall totals. Remember, there are rain events that have first names.

My take home message is this: Trees in natural and landscaped areas have sustained a lot of stress during the past few years. The collection of extreme dry periods and extreme rainfall will cause extreme reactions within our urban forests. Be aware and be prepared.

Legacy Tree Fund Awards

The North Carolina Urban Forest Council is excited to announce this year's recipients of the Legacy Tree Fund! We have seven entities sponsoring tree planting projects among school yards, playgrounds, city streets, and gardens.

• Alliance for Cape Fear Trees - Tree Recovery in Historic Sunset Park (Part 2), working with residents to replant 57 trees along city streets damaged during Hurricane Florence. Installation of shade and wind break trees will augment local energy conservation and air quality, mitigate seasonal flooding, and enhance community relations with underserved residents. 

• City of Oxford - City of Oxford Street Tree Planting Initiative, revitalizing Downtown Oxford by replacing aging hollie trees that have bulging roots with aesthetically appearing trees. Project also will improve sidewalk conditions for pedestrians.

• ReLeaf Washington - Tree Planting in Underserved Neighborhood, planting nearly 300 trees on the currently treeless property of Washington Housing Authority. Completion of this project will help ReLeaf achieve its long-term goal of planting 1,000 trees by 2030.

• Town of Matthews / Appearance & Tree Advisory Committee - Tree Matthews 2022 Tree Adoption, hosting the town's second tree adoption program for community residents. Goal is to plant nearly 200 native trees, 20% of which will be placed in the historically black Crestdale Neighborhood. 

• Town of Wilkesboro - Cub Creek East Universal Playground, installing medium and large canopy trees within a premier park that caters to people of all ages and physical abilities. Planted trees will enhance visitor experience for individuals recreating on the playground equipment and within natural areas.

• TreesCharlotte - TreeDay at Nations Ford Elementary School, planting 142 trees on the property of a school that opened in 2016. Nearly half of the trees will replace trees lost during school construction. School children will learn ecological values of urban forests.

• Wilson Master Gardeners - Woodland Walk, reforesting the Wilson Botanical Gardens with approximately 550 native trees. Original oak and pine trees were lost during past hurricanes. Reforested area will contain a trail and labeled trees for garden visitors and help filter water that flows into an adjacent blue-line stream. 

All Legacy Tree Fund projects foster community involvement. If you wish to volunteer in one of the above projects during the Fall 2022 season, please contact Kathryn Reis.  

NATIONAL STORIES

Urban and Community Forestry Bill on Capitol Hill

Some times old news is new news. In light of our Legacy Tree Fund announcement, I wanted to highlight a national legislative push that would help local governments improve and manage their urban forests.

Last summer, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York introduced the Urban Forests Act of 2021 (HR 2477). This bill currently has nine Democrat and Republican co-sponsors, including Rep. Alma Adams of North Carolina's 12th District. 

If passed, HR 2477 would authorize the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to do the following tasks:

• establish and oversee the competitive Tree City USA Grant Program, authorizing $1 million in annual appropriations for matching grants to local governments. Each year one grant recipient would receive the distinction of Premier Tree City for extraordinary urban forest management efforts.

• establish cooperative agreements with state and local governments to create a market for wood products made from dead and fallen urban trees.

• partner with U.S. Department of Labor to create Civilian Conservation Centers in urban and community areas. Each center would be a local resource for urban forestry training and conservation.

• enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Environmental Protection Agency and multiple U.S. Departments. Collectively, the entities would (1) identify strategies for enhancing equitable access to urban forests, (2) research ecological benefits of urban forests, and (3) research methods for collaboratively addressing urban forest threats from insects, disease, and non-native species.

Under the Urban Forests Act of 2021, the USFS also would have to analyze forest carbon levels across all states for the last 20 years. The analysis must include a 5-year report that explains how the agency conducted its strategic national forest inventory with advanced data collection and geospatial technologies. Moreover, the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 would be amended to identify how urban and community forests could contribute to carbon storage. 

Visit Congress.gov to learn more about HR 2477.

Tree Cover and Property Value: A National Meta-Analysis

David J. Nowak and Robert G. Haight, both of whom work for the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Research Station, partnered with two other U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers to explore how the percentage of tree cover surrounding residential homes influences property value. 

For this investigation, the researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 21 hedonic property values; that is, market force characteristics unique to each home and its surrounding environment. They also examined 157 distinct property value observations. 

Results of this study indicate that residential property values increase when homeowners have (1) fewer trees to maintain on their property and (2) more tree coverage on neighboring landscapes that someone else maintains (e.g., homeowners association).

This research paper is published in the July 2022 issue of the journal, Ecological Economics.

LOCAL STORIES

Spotted Lanternfly Confirmed in North Carolina

by Dr. Kelly Oten, NC Cooperative Extension/Forestry, 29 June 2022

Photo courtesy:  Joy Goforth, NCDA&CS Plant Industry Division

On June 29, 2022, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service (NCDA&CS) announced an infested area in Kernersville, a suburb of Winston-Salem in Forsyth County. Initial surveys indicate the infestation covers a 5-mile-radius area, indicating it’s likely been there for a couple of years before it was reported. The NCDA&CS continue to survey to determine the extent of the infestation and are already starting treatments to reduce populations.

The spotted lanternfly (SLF; Lycorma delicatula) is an invasive insect native to Asia. First detected in the U.S. in Pennsylvania in 2014, it has since been detected in 9 additional states. In late 2021, an infestation popped up very near to the NC-VA state line, prompting concern that its invasion into NC was imminent.

The spotted lanternfly is an agricultural, ornamental, and nuisance pest. They use piercing-sucking mouthparts to feed on plant phloem. Agriculturally, the threat is primarily to grapevine, in which up to 90% yield reduction of infested vineyards is documented. During heavy infestations, grapevines may be killed and mating swarms may disrupt agrotourism events at vineyards such as tours and weddings. Moreover, SLF feeds on more than 100 species of plants, including hops, fruit trees (apple, plum, cherry, peach, more), native trees (dogwood, oak, maple, beech, more) and many more. Spotted lanternfly is not suspected to cause tree mortality, but feeding retrieves nutrients from the plant, weakening it, reducing photosynthesis, and making plants more susceptible to other stress agents. In rare cases, SLF has killed young or not-yet-established plants.

Link to full article

How to Keep Your Landscape Resilient During Seasonal Summer Drought

by Davey Resource Group

Summer brings extended periods of heat and humidity in different parts of the country, combined with sunshine and warm nights to boot. Add to that a lack of rainfall, and all these things combined can stress your landscape trees and shrubs.

What’s important to understand about trees and shrubs is that they lose water through their leaves all the time through a process called transpiration. The roots seek water in the soil to replace what the plant is losing. When there isn’t enough water there to replenish the tree’s nutrients, the plant can start to show signs of stress.

Heat stress in plants alone has to do with temperatures and doesn’t occur very often in many U.S. regions, except for the hottest ones. This is because air temperatures have to be very high to stress the leaves.

Often, what you see is drought stress, which means the if the plant is using a high amount of water, it is not likely to be stressed. Water stress can occur at any temperature above roughly 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Link to full article

NC Forest Service Accepting Orders for Native Tree Seedlings

Every year through its Nursery and Tree Improvement Program, the North Carolina Forest Service (NCFS) lets landowners purchase native tree seedlings and understory plants for their private property. Landowners can select among 50 native tree species, including various pine species and Eastern red cedar. The agency hopes to plant native vegetation on 30,000 acres each year. Catalogues are available online and at any NCFS office. Interested landowners can also call 1-888-NCTREES to place their orders. The agency will distribute seedlings for purchase between December 2022 and April 2023.

Visit the NC Forest Service website to learn how you can place your own seedling order!

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