DEC completes effort to remove fungus, will continue monitoring area
After nearly two years of intensive eradication efforts, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is declaring the Glen Oaks neighborhood in Glenville free of oak wilt, a devastating tree disease.
On Friday, Jan. 7, DEC officials said measures to halt the spread of oak wilt, including tree and stump removal from the affected neighborhood, have been successful, but monitoring will continue in the coming years. The DEC’s efforts also included the planting of maple trees to replace some of the removed oaks.
We believe the disease has been successfully eradicated from this site and we are hopeful that further monitoring will confirm the eradication, said Gene Kelly, regional director for the DEC. `The last maple tree was planted in November, which concluded our operational efforts in the Glen Oaks neighborhood in Glenville.`
Oak wilt is a tree disease caused by the fungus Ceratocystis fagacearum. It kills thousands of oak trees in eastern United States forests, woodlots and residential property every year. Once infected, the fungus grows in water-conducting vessels of host trees and causes the vessels to produce gummy plugs that prevent water flow. As water movement within the tree slows down, the leaves wilt before falling to the ground, and over time the tree will die.
Efforts to remove the trees began in April 2009, when 75 infected oak trees were cut down. Last spring, 45 tree stumps were ground up, and recently 14 maple trees were planted. Property owners impacted by the removal of trees were offered free stump removal and a free maple tree. The DEC also placed a quarantine on the removal of any un-chipped oak material from the area until further notice to prevent spreading the disease.
A disease takes root
`This [the oak wilt infestation] was something that could have potentially been very devastating to the town,` said James MacFarland, director of operations for Glenville. `We lobbied as hard as we could from the town perspective that this was potentially huge, and DEC, to their credit, they spent the money that had to be spent.`
Terry Phillips, of Summerset Lane, said he first noticed there was something wrong with the trees in his neighbor’s yard, and soon he noticed the same thing happening with his trees.
`My next door neighbor had some trees die, and they just died all of a sudden,` said Phillips.
He contacted an arborist, who told him he thought the trees were suffering from oak wilt so Phillips called the Cornell Cooperative Extension, which at first was skeptical since there hadn’t been any confirmed cases of oak wilt.
Phillips’ friend Frank Strauss, who lives nearby, also had several trees die. Strauss brought a sample to Cornell Cooperative Extension, but the initial results were inconclusive. To get a better sample, Phillips brought in a fresh branch and the results came back positive for oak wilt.
At that point, Cornell Cooperative Extension officials contacted the DEC.
Keeping oak wilt in check
The Glenville trees are the only confirmed instances of oak wilt in New York, but DEC officials are not clear how the disease entered the town.
`We don’t know for sure. Someone could have possibly brought in some firewood from another part of the country, but that is just speculation right now,` said Rick Georgeson, spokesman for the DEC. `At this point, it does not have appear to have spread. We are going to be out there for the next few years, keeping our eyes open to make sure it hasn’t spread.`
Moving firewood more than 50 miles is prohibited by the DEC, unless the wood meets the state’s heat treatment standards through kiln drying, which is meant to kill harmful pests.
Scientists also don’t know where the disease originated from nationwide, but it could have entered the country from a foreign plant or evolved from a related endemic fungus. Forest pathologists in Wisconsin first identified oak wilt in 1944. Georgeson said DEC officials periodically take surveys throughout the state to look for any diseases of concern on wild lands.
Georgeson said the DEC was surprised to find out about the Glenville oak wilt, because `the closest outbreak was quite a distance away.`
Red oak trees are more affected than white oak trees, and the disease can kill a tree in as little as three weeks.
`If you just look around, we’re loaded with red oaks in Glenville,` said MacFarland.
The most noticeable way to know if an oak tree is affected, said MacFarland, is if a large number of the leaves fall off before July 4.
Roots of nearby trees within 50 feet most commonly spread the disease once an area is affected, but insects can also carry the disease to healthy trees with fresh wounds caused by pruning or storm damage, according to a report from Cornell University on the incident.
Some trees spared
At first the DEC didn’t plan to cut down healthy trees, but Phillips said the plan was revised to include all healthy trees near infected trees.
`The DEC came back and said in order to save the state of New York money, they are going to cut down every healthy tree in order to save other trees,` said Phillips. `The key thing that got me, besides being involved from the beginning, they had changed their plan in order to save the state of New York money.`
In Phillips’ yard there were two trees that were supposed to come down in the revised plan, but through talks with the DEC, Phillips was able to save the trees by digging a 4-foot trench around his property. If the trees die within three years of the start of efforts, Phillips will be responsible for any costs associated with disposing them.
`If the DEC came to me and said in order to save the trees in New York state, your two trees have to come down, I would have been sad, but if it was a necessity in order to save the trees in the rest of the state, I would say take them down,` said Phillips. `I didn’t put anymore trees at risk by saving my two trees because I did everything they said.`
Phillips’ trees have survived for two years now, and he doesn’t think they will die off in the third year. The outcome for the rest of the neighborhood also appears to be good.
`Right now we are pretty optimistic for having a successful outcome,` said MacFarland. `When you start looking at the total amount of invasive species that are hitting this area it is remarkable right now how many threats there are out there.“
