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News

  • Forestry Friday: The Rare Milkweed Garden at the Gardner Forest

    Sophie Oehler
    September 15, 2023

    In this Forestry Friday, the forestry team takes a trip to the Gardener Forest in Hollis to check in on a population of a rare species of milkweed. (Photo: Sophie Oehler)

  • "Good Forestry in the Granite State" is Being Revised — Take the Survey

    Wendy Weisiger
    August 29, 2023

    A steering committee representing landowners, conservation organizations, state agencies and the forest industry is guiding the process.

  • Lamprey River Forest Timber Harvest Tour

    Dave Anderson, Wendy Weisiger, Steven Junkin
    June 16, 2023

    A recent tour of an active timber harvest at the Forest Society's 162-acre Lamprey River Forest provided an excellent opportunity to see the forestry underway.

Forestry Field Trip to Learn More About Beech Leaf Disease

Steven Junkin
May 19, 2023
Forestry
beech leaf disease

Forest Society Foresters Wendy, Steve and Gabe all recently attended a field visit to Bear Brook State Park to see the beech leaf disease outbreak there. This was one of the first locations it was detected in New Hampshire just last year. The attendees included members of the Forest Pest Advisory Group and Invasive Species Committee. The first signs of the disease as we got closer to the epicenter became obvious: dark banding occurring between the veins of the leaf. They were best viewed from below the tree looking up at the sunlit leaves.

looking at beech leaf diseased leaves

Since beech trees are tolerant of shade they can be found growing as a thick layer of young trees not far off the ground. Being this close to the ground aides in viewing the leaves up close.

beech leaf disease up close

 

Cameron McIntire, Plant Pathologist at U.S. Forest ServiceCameron McIntire, Plant Pathologist with the U.S. Forest Service, provided the latest knowledge on the disease infecting beech trees from Ohio to Maine. There is still yet much to learn about this complex disease with associations of bacteria, fungus and primarily nematodes. Cameron has set up plots on Bear Brook to understand as much as he can. He said that understory trees once infected take just 2 or 3 years before they die.

Larger trees take longer but eventually do succumb. Unfortunately beech trees in New Hampshire are more vulnerable to this disease as many of them are already stressed from Beech Bark Disease. More locations are popping up in New Hampshire each season as the disease progresses. Locations currently known are Derry, Deerfield, Durham and Farmington.    

  • The public is encouraged to look for signs of the disease and report those findings to www.NHBugs.org.
  • To view the information about the pest check out this link: https://www.nhbugs.org/damaging-insects-diseases/beech-leaf-disease

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Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests54 Portsmouth St.Concord, NH 03301
Phone: 603.224.9945Fax: 603.228.0423info@forestsociety.org
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