[Durham INC] Fw: [NPNA] Fwd: City response to Cankerworms on street and park trees

[M. W. Shiflett - Hotmail]

> From: "Johnson, Alexander" <Alexander.Johnson at durhamnc.gov>
> Date: April 26, 2012 2:36:44 PM EDT
> To: "Cotton, Norris G" <Norris.Cotton at morganstanleysmithbarney.com>, 
> "Michelle Mead Dekker" <smdekker at mindspring.com>, "Page McCullough" 
> <page.mc at frontier.com>, "Karen Willis" <karen.willis at earthlink.net>, "Bill 
> Anderson" <TheOcean1 at aol.com>, "Peter Katz" <peterkatz01 at gmail.com>, 
> "Christine Westfall" <chwestfall at gmail.com>
> Cc: "Lilley, Kevin" <Kevin.Lilley at durhamnc.gov>, "Cat Warren" 
> <cat_warren at ncsu.edu>
> Subject: City response to Cankerworms on street and park trees
>
> Greetings everyone,
>
>                 By now the worst of the cankerworm problem is behind us 
> and the trees stripped bare are slowly leafing back out.  This is a good 
> thing.  However, it means that the clock is ticking for me to identify and 
> catalog the community trees that were impacted this past spring.  I need 
> to do this to allow me to follow-up in the fall with a treatment to 
> interrupt the life-cycle of the fall cankerworm and spring cankerworm, who 
> emerge from the ground as flightless moths to mate and lay eggs in the 
> host trees (in fall and spring, respectively).
>
> What I am asking of you, as community representatives in your respective 
> neighborhoods, is to circulate the following information via your 
> list-serves, meetings, newsletters, (or however you see fit):
>
> This winter's unusually mild weather produced an unusually robust hatching 
> of cankerworms, which fed extensively on hardwoods throughout Durham. 
> They were a variety of colors (green to brown) and ranged in size from 
> roughly ½ to 1" in length, and were to be found dangling from silky 
> threads from trees (mostly oak species) from early March through early 
> April.
>
> If you live next to or noticed a park or street tree which was impacted by 
> cankerworms this spring, Please send me an email with the corresponding 
> address  or the address or intersection closest to the tree (or other 
> information to orient in).  I will sort through these and with the help of 
> an Eagle Scout candidate, inspect, catalog and list them before they fully 
> leaf back out.  Once cataloged the trees will sport a spot of white paint 
> at their base.
>
> The second phase of the project will be the appearance of sticky goo 
> painted on the trunks of these trees in October.  This aptly named 
> "tanglefoot", and it functions like a glue trap for insects.  It will 
> persist on the trunks of treated trees through spring and intercept both 
> spring and fall cankerworm adults before they can lay their eggs.  It is 
> non-toxic and breaks down over time.
>
> I estimate that I have around 2 weeks to get the trees listed before they 
> will be difficult to distinguish from surrounding unaffected trees. 
> Adjacent trees will be treated to halt the spread of these insects, but 
> the main concern is to keep impacted trees from being subjected to repeat 
> defoliation episodes which can wear down the resources of mature trees.
>
> If you have trees on your own property that were badly impacted this 
> spring, here is a great website that gives a lot of good background info 
> and explains how to treat your own trees.  http://cankerworm.charmeck.org.
>
>
>
>
> Alex Johnson BS, CA
> Urban Forestry Manager
> City of Durham General Services Department
> Office: 560-4197 Extension 21275
> facsimile: 560-1011
>
>




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

Check out the NPNA website:
        http://www.northgateparknc.org/

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NPNA/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NPNA/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    NPNA-digest at yahoogroups.com
    NPNA-fullfeatured at yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    NPNA-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/