Acorns (Forest Stewardship News Releases – Penn State)

“Great oaks from little acorns grow.” When it comes to acorns, this may be about as much as many of us know. But acorns, the fruit of oaks, are an important bounty provided by our woodlands

In the fall, hunters begin to scout the landscape for acorns, which are mast – literally, forest food – and critically important to many wildlife species. Every squirrel, turkey, deer, and bear hunter and many bird watchers know that finding acorns may increase their chances of finding wildlife.   read more

Gypsy moth caterpillars back with bite (The Morning Call)

Forest-munching gypsy moth caterpillars rebounded in Pennsylvania this summer with a surprising vengeance, catching entomologists, government officials and landowners off-guard. Now, officials are worried they won’t have enough money or resources to help counties battle what is expected to be an even bigger infestation next year.

Early estimates indicate the pests, which had been in decline for several years, bounced back to defoliate a million acres in Pennsylvania. Lehigh County was relatively untouched but Monroe County, with its abundance of oaks — a gypsy moth favorite — was among the hardest-hit areas in the state and the nation.  full story

DCNR wages war on ‘Trees of Heaven’ (Williamsporte Sun-Gazette)

When William Hamilton introduced Ailanthus altissima in 1784 to America in his Philadelphia garden as an ornamental tree, he couldn’t have imagined that over 200 years later this East Asian deciduous plant would be labeled an invasive species and be hated by many.

In the past few years, the state Bureau of Forestry’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has been working to eradicate this so-called “Tree of Heaven” from Pine Creek Valley in western Lycoming County.   read more

Beetle threatens state’s ash trees (Times Leader)

Call it a “David and Goliath” battle in Pennsylvania’s forests. Only this time, David is a diminutive beetle from Asia, and Goliath is the 80-foot ash tree.

The emerald ash borer, a half-inch-long beetle that has killed approximately 50 million ash trees in the Midwest, was detected in western Pennsylvania in June. The finding has led to a quarantine on firewood in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties. Although the infestation is more than 300 miles from Luzerne County, forestry experts say it’s only a matter of time before the destructive beetle spreads throughout the state.

“This thing is running amok and spreading very quickly. They found it in Detroit in 2002 and it’s already in Pennsylvania,” said Vinnie Cotrone, an urban forester with the Penn State Extension Office in West Pittston.   full story

Ash trees face dire threat (The Morning Call)

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Butler county – In a hedgerow behind an elementary school, state entomologist Sven-Erik Spichiger works a screwdriver into the trunk of a dying ash tree, peels away a foot-long strip of bark and reveals something oddly beautiful yet ultimately horrific in the wood beneath: a network of S-shaped galleries, representing the years-long progress of innumerable gnawing larvae.

Trunks like this one are the nurseries of the emerald ash borer beetle, an accidental import from Asia that threatens the very existence of North America’s five varieties of ash and may, experts fear, already be inhabiting other parts of Pennsylvania, including the Lehigh Valley.   full story