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ESFPA E-News
Volume 4 - Issue 19
May 12, 2023
DEC May Invasive Species News
Look Out for Beech Leaf Disease and Claim a SLF Grid Square!
It’s spring, which means our beautiful trees are blooming again in New York! As buds begin to break, now is the perfect time to keep your eyes peeled for beech leaf disease symptoms.
Symptoms include striping between the veins of the leaves. In early stages, this striping may only occur on a couple leaves on the tree. As the disease progresses, the striping becomes severe, causing the leaves to curl and take on a leathery texture. Curled leaves cannot photosynthesize as well, so heavily infected trees will grow weaker and decline year after year. As new leaves emerge on your local beech trees, check them for striping symptoms. Striping is easier to see from the underside of the leaves where the canopy is backlit by the sky.
Beech leaf disease (BLD) was first found in Ohio in 2012 and has now spread to 13 other states and provinces. In New York, BLD is present in over half of the counties, but it is most severe in the western and southeastern regions of the state. BLD is associated with a nematode in the buds of beech trees.
Take a photo of the underside of your beech leaves and report your findings on iMapInvasives, even if your tree does not have symptoms! Over 2,000 iMap reports were submitted in 2022, and the majority were records where BLD was not detected. This data helps DEC understand where BLD is not present, which is just as valuable as knowing where it is present.
Additionally, as the weather warms this spring, tiny black and white spotted insects are getting ready to emerge from the egg masses laid by spotted lanternflies (SLF) last fall.
Spotted lanternflies (SLF) are invasive insects that feed on grapes, hops, maple trees, and other woody plants, posing a severe threat to our natural resources. Visit the NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets website for more information. In New York, SLF is most common downstate, but one potential pathway for spread is SLF’s preferred host plant, tree-of-heaven (ToH), which is found in many locations across NY.
Thankfully, we have a network of volunteers and professionals across the state working together to monitor the spread of SLF and ToH. Through the Claim a Grid Square program, dozens of volunteers conducted hundreds of surveys across the state last year. As of this week, we are re-launching the Claim a Grid Square program for 2023 for continued monitoring – all are welcome to join!
You can help protect New York's agriculture and forests by knowing what to look for and how to report to New York’s official invasive species database, iMapInvasives.
Upcoming Webinar: Restoring Old-Growth Characteristics
When: May 17, 2023 - Presentations at 12:00 to 1:00 PM and again at 7:00 to 8:00 PM (webinars may run long with questions)
Presenter: Paul Catanzaro, University of Massachusetts
Old-growth forests, with their abundant deadwood, multiple canopy layers, and variation in tree ages, densities, and sizes, are different than our ecologically young second growth forests. These differences have important implications for forest benefits such as wildlife habitat and climate change mitigation. We cannot re-create true old-growth forests; however, we have opportunities through both passive and active forest management to restore old-growth characteristics to our ecologically young forests in New York and New England. This webinar will describe the differences between old-growth forests and our current second growth forest and opportunities to restore missing characteristics to our forests while meeting our other goals.
The instructions below include the process for you to obtain your unique “registration id” for this month’s webinar. Note that webinars are live at noon and 7PM, for an hour each, but the meeting space is reserved from noon until 8PM. Your registration allows participation in either or both the noon and 7PM webinar, and from any computer.
SAF CFE credits have been requested or have been approved. You are able to request CEU credit documentation via the registration link below. You must connect as a participant to one of the live webinars. The webinar documents the duration of your participation. All webinars are recorded and archived at www.youtube.com/ForestConnect
Please Note:
- You need to register for each monthly webinar. There is unlimited space for participants, the ID simply provides you the necessary access. Obtain your registration ID via: https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5IRFqn7oSYm5D-Vyqb8-3Q prompted for a password use “Cornell”.
- The registration page prompts you for information if you want CEU credits. You must register and attend the webinar > 20 minutes if you want to receive documentation for CEU credits.
- After registration you will receive the link to the webinar and a password. Your registration is valid for either the noon or 7PM presentation.
- The registration email you receive provides the link you will use the day of the webinar.
27th Annual Adirondack Research Consortium Conference
The Adirondack Research Consortium is hosting their 27th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks, "Climate Change in the Adirondack/North Country Region – Mitigation, Adaptation, and Implications” on May 18th and 19th, 2023 at The Conference Center at Lake Placid, Lake Placid, NY.
See the entire program overview here.
Featured Conference Presentations by:
- Aaron Mair- Adirondack Council
- Curt Stager- Paul Smith’s College- (he will also be presented with the 2023 Elizabeth Thorndike Adirondack Achievement Award on May 19th)
- Grant Domke- US Forest Service
Register for the conference by clicking the link below:
Sign Up for ESFPA June Dinner
On June 14th, the day prior to the ESFPA Board Meeting, we are welcoming our members and their guests to join us for an evening social hour and dinner at the Holiday Valley Lodge in Ellicottville, NY.
Our guest speakers will be New York Senator George Borrello and Baillie Lumber President Jeff Meyer. The itinerary for the evening is as follows:
- 5:00 p.m. -Social Hour at the Holiday Valley Lodge Sunrise Banquet Room
- 6:00 p.m.- Welcome from NY Senator George Borello and remarks on the 2023 legislative session
- 6:30 p.m.- Buffet Dinner
- 7:30 p.m.- Remarks from Baillie Lumber President Jeff Meyer about the state of the hardwood industry.
This event will be a great opportunity for learning and networking with top industry professionals and the Board of ESFPA. If you are interested in attending this event, please call ESFPA at (518) 463-1297, the deadline for event attendance is June 1st. Rooms will be available through Holiday Valley Lodge until May 14th; to book a room call (716) 699-2345.
The fee is $20 per person, and we would like to thank our sponsors for all their support, without which this would not have been possible: Cotton Hanlon, Wagner Group, Farm Credit East, Keister Consulting, and Gutchess Lumber.
Feel free to send this invitation to your employees and peers. Looking forward to seeing you there!
