New blog location

This blog is now archived. Any new posts will be published at the new Trees and Tribulations site.

See you there!

Jennifer

Measuring the urban forest one summer at a time

Women in Forestry: A working list

In light of International Women's Day, I've highlighted some of the women that have been leaders in forestry - whether they assumed roles that were previously dominated by men or in some way made it that much easier for women to enter the male-dominated field.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it's a start.

Mona Roy (UNBArchives)

Mona Roy

In 1948, Mona Roy became the first woman to graduate from a forestry program in Canada and in 1950, broke another record as the first woman to complete an MSc in forestry. 

"Those with the idea that Forestry is strictly for men, can change their minds, for Mona can swing the axe and give the Forester's yell with the best of them."

Marie Rauter (OFIA)

Marie Rauter

Marie Rauter was the first woman to enrol and graduate from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Forestry (the oldest forestry faculty in Canada). Rauter later completed an MSc in forest genetics and in 1999 was awarded the Canadian Forestry Achievement Award.

"Find a job to get paid doing whatever your hobby is. I've had the greatest life. I don't think I could have chosen a better profession."

Gail Kimbell (US Forest Service

Gail Kimbell

Gail Kimbell was the first chief of the United States Forest Service.

"I remember what it was like in 1969. It was the year of Woodstock—the year of the first moon landing—of NEPA. The Vietnam War was raging,...It was a time of ferment, a time of change, not least for the Forest Service...We were struggling to adapt to social change—to bring women and minorities into the organization and to help the whole organization adjust to the opportunities that come with richer diversity."

The Chipko movement

The Chipko Movement

The Chipko Movement was initiated by a group of peasant women from Reni village in India. The women staged a Gandhian (non-violent) protest against deforestation and the effect it was having on the local watershed. The Hindi word "chipko" means "to stick" or "to hug" and is the root of the modern term "tree hugger".

“Year after year the floods in the North of India seem to be getting worse, and this year they have been absolutely devastating. This means that there is something radically wrong in the Himalayas, and that 'something' is, without doubt, connected with the forests."

Wangari Matthai

Dr. Wangari Matthai (1940-2011)

Wangari Matthai was the founder of the Green Belt Movement, an eNGO that empowered women of rural Kenya to take action on forest restoration, watershed management, and community development. In 2004, Matthai became the first African woman ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. 

"It's the little things citizens do. That's what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees."

Sandy Smith (UofT)

Dr. Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith is a forest entomologist, professor and Dean Emeritus at the University of Toronto. Smith was the first woman appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Forestry. She is also a huge part of the reason that I specialized in forest health care.

“Enjoy the process. You need end goals, but appreciate the here and now. Step back and look at the big picture.”

I can't wait to fill the bottom of this page with all of the wonderful women that I studied forestry with or met through my professional pursuits. I know they have and will do great things. I'll just give them some time to get comfortable before I label them as revolutionaries!

Happy International Women's Day everyone!

winter tree tour in trinity bellwoods park

Posted by Jennifer Gagné / MARCH 05, 2014

What better way to break our hibernation than with a winter tree tour? This past Saturday we got together with Friends of Trinity Bellwoods Park and over 90 participants from across Toronto and neighbouring cities. It was mild, the sun was shining and although our toes started to freeze as we approached the end, we were assured by our guide, Mark Sherman, that the buds were a sign that spring warmth was on its way!

   

The most obvious challenge with identifying species in the winter is the absence of leaves. However, as Mark pointed out, not all trees drop their leaves. We all know evergreens such as spruce, pine and cedar keep their needles all year, but even some beech and oak species hold on to their browned leaves until new ones replace them. Knowing what other characteristics to look for can make winter tree identification a walk in the park.

Mark shared many helpful identifiers: elm trees have a vase-like shape; London plane (Platanus × acerifolia) and American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) have camouflage-like bark; and bitternut hickories (Carya cordiformis) have bright, sulphur-yellow buds. Two buds at the end of twigs (terminal buds) points to lilac (Syringa vulgaris) or Japanese maple (Acer palmatum), whereas three or more are characteristic of oaks. We learned that ginkgos are remnants of the Jurassic Period and that the big bitternut hickory next to the tennis court is the oldest tree in the park (thanks to the community that rallied to push the court’s construction over a few feet).

I observed a strong sense of community during the tour. People shared stories with me about their summer jobs teaching kids to weave willow twigs into baskets, about how serviceberries are a great addition to a cream cheese icing, and for one young man, about how this tour was the first step to a future career in forestry. Though at first the trees seemed to be the main attraction, the people of this neighbourhood made the event memorable. And their keen interest in community forestry? Well, that was the serviceberry-icing on the cake.

You can take a tree tour by keeping an eye on our event listings here. Don’t miss the next exciting walk through our urban forest!

Originally posted at Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests

Photos by Sammy Tangir

Ice Storm 2013: tragedy or opportunity for regrowth?

Toronto ice storm 2013 (National Post)

To be completely honest, I can’t tell you much about the Toronto ice storm. I’ve read the articles, heard the estimates of canopy loss, the anecdotes from friends and colleagues about the backyard trees they lost, and their dangerous walks through city parks, dodging falling branches and skating down slippery paths.

I missed it all thanks to my friend Emily whose Christmas goal was to beat the storm – get us safely to our families at a reasonable hour, so she could watch Little Women with her mom and sister – a family tradition.  

From what I heard, not very many people in Toronto watched Little Women that night; they were lucky if they still had heat. Toronto was in a state of emergency, many without power, and I was sipping mulled wine in the Ottawa Valley, a place that has had its fair share of ice, a comparable storm, over a decade ago.

Ice storm of '98 (The Weather Channel)

As you may know, Ottawa and the rest of eastern Ontario, parts of Quebec, and the eastern U.S. experienced the same thing, even to a greater degree. At the age of 15, I survived the Ice Storm of ‘98. I thought the city looked like a winter wonderland, the trees cocooned in ice. I remember thinking it was really pretty, but the immediate damage was anything but.

It was an unprecedented disaster. There were forty-five deaths, residents without power for over a month, and greater than 600,000 hectares of Ontario’s hardwood forests were disturbed. To put this into perspective, it amounts to about 300,000 soccer fields of forest damage. The ice in some cases was up to ten centimetres thick – just imagine that kind of weight on trees and other structures. It was the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history, amounting to billions of dollars in damages over an area so large that the freezing was exceeded only by the last ice age.

Downed transmission tower in Quebec during the
'98 ice storm (Global news)

So fifteen years later, after we’ve just experienced another ice storm, this time in Southern Ontario, we can look back and ask, “was the ice storm of ‘98 really that bad?” Well in terms of the lives that were lost, the money that was spent, yes it was horrible, but looking at the impact on the forest landscape, ecologically speaking, maybe not as bad as we had expected.

There was a lot of new growth that spring. The ice pruned some of the trees where they needed it and mortality created new openings for young shade-tolerant species like sugar maple, American beech, and hemlock saplings. Much of the new growth seen after the ice storm of ’98 was due to the warm and wet spring and summer that followed. There was still a lot of mortality at the stand level, including insect infestations attacking stressed trees and loss of harvestable timber in red pine plantations. However, in terms of the ecology of the overarching landscape, the warm and wet growing conditions that spring, succeeded in turning a tragic storm into an opportunity for regeneration.

As for Toronto, we’ll just have to see what the conditions will be and how the forest will respond. The boulevard trees that were heavily damaged, will definitely need to be replanted. Norway maple, the most common tree in Toronto isn't as resilient as its native sugar maple when it comes to ice stress, so planting native species that have evolved in cold climates, can be a safe bet for preparing for the next storm. Before spring arrives, broken branches should be pruned. Residents can create better growing conditions for stressed trees by watering and mulching - especially in the case that it's a particularly dry season that follows. 

In the meantime, let's cross our fingers that it'll be a rainy spring. I hope that we can eventually look back on the 2013 ice storm, just like that of '98, and agree that it was intense, but in the grand ecological scheme of things, not all that bad.

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For tips on how you can help vulnerable trees rebound from the ice storm: visit Canadian Gardening Magazine.

Research shows eastern Ontario’s forests are springing back from ice damage - Ontario Forest Research Institute

What I can tell you about the emerald ash borer

For the past few months, I've been working as an emerald ash borer specialist at the Invasive Species Centre - a not-for-profit located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. 

Alongside my colleague and mentor, and former Forest Health Specialist at the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, I've travelled around Ontario meeting with municipalities, conservation authorities, and local groups in order to share and discuss the science, best practices, and management options around this invasive insect. 

Here is a lot of what I’ve learnt about the infamous emerald ash borer that has been labeled as the “most destructive invasive insect in North America”.

EAB is not native to N.A....

EAB is native to China and eastern Asia and was likely transported to Canada by way of wood packaging materials. It was first discovered in North America in 2002 in the Detroit, Michigan area and shortly after in Windsor, Ontario.

...it attacks ash trees...

EAB attacks all species of ash (Fraxinus spp.). This doesn't include mountain ash, which isn't a true species of ash. In China, the native ash species including Manchurian ash tend to be resistant unless already on a decline. In Canada, all ash trees are attacked, stressed or healthy, although blue ash has shown some resistance and is thought to be genetically closer to Manchurian ash than the native white, green/red, black, or pumpkin ash. Furthermore, there aren't any natural enemies present to keep EAB populations in check.

...and the larvae cut off the trees' circulation.

Even though the adult beetles feed on the leaves, this doesn't really affect the health of the tree. It is the larvae that burrow under the bark and create s-shaped galleries (shown to the left), which cut off the circulation of the tree and eventually leads to mortality. The physical symptoms include dieback (thinning of the crown), epicormic shoots (sprouting at the lower portion of the trunk), cracks or woodpecker damage, tiny D-shaped exit holes, and sometimes pink discoloration.

Within 6 years, all of the ash trees die...

Trees attacked by EAB tend to die within 2-3 years after attack and research has shown that within 6 years, 99% percent of the ash trees in an infested area will have died. This one percent accounts for what are called lingering ash, which may show some resistance to the insect; though this is rare.

...then they fall...

Unlike the persisting elms that were killed by Dutch Elm Disease, ash trees killed by EAB seem to topple over. Their root system rots and the tree loses its support system creating a human hazard especially on streets and in parks. 

...and must be removed.

Since dead ash trees are hazardous due to their weak root system and likelihood of falling over, cities are left with the cost of removing all of the dead ash trees on streets and in open parks. In some urban areas, the percentage of ash trees compared to the rest of the canopy is over 80% and the cost of removal and replacement can be in the millions. It is expected that ash tree replacement, removal, and treatment will cost municipalities $2 billion over 30 years.

However some can be "saved" with an insecticide...

If the ash tree is still in a healthy state and showing minimal stress symptoms, the trees can be treated with an insecticide. Since it is the larvae that kill the tree when burrowing under the bark, the insecticides must be injected at the bottom of the trunk (shown to the right) and they are naturally distributed through the tree by way of the tree's circulatory system. There are three insecticides currently on the market, ACECAP, Confidor, and TreeAzin, although TreeAzin is the safest of the three and is the only one that has been shown to control EAB populations rather than just suppress them. 

...which can cost less than removal...

Removing and replacing a tree can cost well over a thousand dollars; whereas treating a tree with TreeAzin costs approximately $200 per biannual injection. TreeAzin has been shown to provide 2 years of protection from EAB, and over ten years it can be cheaper to inject rather than remove. Another option is to treat and underplant with another non-ash tree, so that when you do stop treating the ash tree, you will have a good-sized tree in its place.

...and buy us more time for science to catch up.

Some people ask whether they will have to inject their ash trees indefinitely. The hope is that within the next ten to fifteen years, there will be large populations of enemies to keep the populations low. Three parasitic wasps that kill EAB in its native land have been released in the United States and are currently undergoing the approvals necessary to be released in Canada. The hope is that the populations of wasps will build up to the point that they can greatly reduce EAB populations. In addition, a native parasitic wasp, Phasgonophora sulcata (shown above) is being released this summer and there is other ongoing research around a native fungus (Beauvaria sp.) that may play a role in reducing EAB as well.

We have come a long way from basic visual surveys...

In 2002 and for years after, the only known way to survey for EAB was to look for the tree decline symptoms (listed above). The problem with relying on physical symptoms of infested trees is that they usually only show up after the tree is already in decline, years after, when the insect population has likely already spread to a much larger area. If you don't know where the population is and where its leading edge is, it is hard if not impossible to eradicate (exterminate) or contain the population. When the infestation was found in Essex County, the federal government tried to contain the population by creating a firebreak or an "ash-free zone" by removing all ash trees within a 10km band between Essex and Chatham-Kent. However, because they were relying on visual surveys, it was only well after the cutting began that an established population had been detected on the other side.

...to green prism traps and branch sampling.

There are now tools like branch sampling that can detect an infestation before any visual symptoms can be seen. EAB adults tend to lay eggs first on branches in the canopy where there is more sun and where the bark is thinner. Only in the later years are eggs laid lower on the bark and the 

larvae create more severe damage in the main trunk. Knowing this, scientists and practitioners now use a method, where they cut specific branches in the canopy and peel back the bark. If the tree is infested, you will see tiny serpentine galleries under the bark along the branch. This is an effective way to know just how infested an area is. Whereas, green prism traps with lures, mostly tell you whether there is EAB present in an area, but not necessarily which trees are infested and should be removed.

  

Humans play a large role in the spread of EAB...

The adult beetles don't fly that far. Although lab research has shown that EAB can fly up 20km/year, this is very uncommon in the field where there are ample ash trees. More likely, the beetle is moved by way of infested wood products, especially firewood. 

...but there are regulations to limit movement...

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which is the regulatory body responsible for regulating non-native invasive species, has set quarantines around the infested Ontario counties. These quarantines restrict the movement of firewood or ash wood out of infested areas into non-infested areas. In Canada, the majority of southern Ontario is regulated, as well as areas around Ottawa, Gatineau, and Montreal, along with Manitoulin Island and Sault Ste. Marie.

...which are by no means perfect...

Quarantines are currently set by county. This means that as soon as an EAB is found in a trap (in Canada, we use green prism traps with lures), CFIA will regulate and quarantine the whole county. Once an area is quarantined then products can move freely within and from other adjacent regulated counties and in some cases increase the rate in which the insect is spread. There is the case where it could only be one beetle caught and no infested trees identified, as was the case in 2011 on Manitoulin Island, but the whole island or county still gets quarantined.

...and will likely expand next year.

Due to resource issues and a low confidence in their survey method, CFIA is looking to expand the quarantined areas beyond a county-by-county basis to a much larger area up to the French and Mattawa rivers, allowing for a smaller perimeter for surveys. This would include many areas not currently known to be infested by EAB, including Muskoka, Haliburton, and Algonquin Park. This is not a good idea for obvious reasons, and although it still isn't known how EAB will persist in natural forests, this is definitely a good way to find out, fast. The area was based on trade routes, where CFIA thinks EAB has or will move and will be implemented in April 2014.

That is, unless other levels of government work together to take over the surveying for CFIA, then there is the possibility that the agency may not increase the quarantine size. Either way, this will get people at the lower government level and of the public more involved with urban forest management. 

Knowledge will continue to be shared and transferred.

Although this is an unfortunate situation, through my work, I have seen incredible support and transfer of knowledge between different municipalities and other levels of government or non-government organizations. 

Over the next year, many new products are anticipated to be published. These include the Canadian Forest Service EAB best management practices, which will be a comprehensive document of the most recent research and recommended management options, public video announcements about the emerald ash borer and how to manage, as well as a website similar to EAB Info, but more focussed on Canadian content.

For more information about the emerald ash borer, visit the Canadian Food Inspection Agency website.

For emerald ash borer research publications, go to the Canadian Forest Service website and search for "emerald ash borer".

For more information about identifying infested ash trees, see the Visual Guide to Detecting Emerald Ash Borer Damage.

For more information about TreeAzin, visit the Bioforest website.

Photo credits: Canadian Food Inspection Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, BioForest, Ottawa Citizen, and Kare 11.

Asian longhorned beetle eradicated from Canada

Yesterday, the Asian longhorned beetle Anoplophora glabripennis (ALB), a highly invasive wood-boring insect from China was finally declared eradicated in Canada by the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood. The beetle was last detected in Canada in the Toronto-Vaughn area of Ontario in 2007 (see map below), which fulfills the 5-year Canadian requirement for eradication of an invasive insect with a 1-2 year life cycle.

The eradication program, which was led by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Canadian Forest Service, with support from the province of Ontario, the City of Toronto, academia, and the United States Department of Agriculture saw the removal and disposal of 28,700 trees, which were hosts for ALB (including maple, birch, willow, and elm). Although this seems like a silly way to manage an infestation, at the time there were no registered pesticides to kill the beetle larvae - which cut off the tree's circulation by boring into the wood - so removal was the only way to protect the rest of the province and country from the impact that the insect could have on both urban and natural forests.

CFIA also set regulations and quarantines to limit new introductions and spread. These were phytosanitary requirements requiring heat treatment of all imported wood packaging as well as setting a quarantine around the generally infested area  and buffer to restrict the movement of potentially infested maple, birch, elm, and willow wood from being moved outside of the quarantined area.

The management around the Asian longhorned beetle is seen as the poster child of a successful invasive species eradication program. The biology of the beetle, including its large and distinctive body and antannae and its slow spread, facilitated the early identification and control of the beetle, but the great collaboration between partners, quick action, and science at the forefront of management decisions, ensured a successful response.

The Asian longhorned beetle is still infesting trees in the United States, in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusettes and has the potential to be reitroduced into Canada as the beetle larvae hitch-hike on products imported into Canada from the United States and internationally.

In the meantime, forest managers are kept busy with other invasive forest insects, like the emerald ash borer, the brown spruce longhorn beetle, or the native mountain pine beetle, that no longer undergoes intense winters to keep its population in check.

Whether its trade or climate change, biological invasions will be repeated and the cost of an eradication program - over $23 million for that of Asian longhorned beetle, for example, is a good enough reason to avoid similar cases in the future. It should also be noted that eradication is not always a possiblity, as is the case for species that were discovered after becoming widely established, are too difficult to detect, or where treatment would be too costly.

So knowing that it doesn't always work out when we react after the fact, how can we better prepare against new infestations? 

To start, we can rethink the way we trade and move products. Do we really need to move firewood across the province or country or do we absolutely need to have a plant shipped from China, because its flowers are slightly pinker than the native variety? When it comes down to it, unless that plant has some magical powers, it probably isn't worth $23 million.

In addition, we can better manage our urban forests for diversity and health. Although some species are generalists, most species feed on specific plants either exclusively or as a preference and are in many cases more attracted to stressed hosts. If we diversify and ensure adequate planting space of the tree species, we limit the pest's food source and the number of trees that will need to be treated or replaced were the pest to establish.

So, we can all do our part in preventing the movement and introduction of invasive species, because there's a reason that the Asian longhorned beetle, although a true success, is more of an anomaly than a common occurance.

For more information about the Asian longhorned beetle, visit the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's or Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources public sites.


Photo credits go to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canadian Border Service Agency, and Wikimedia commons.