Help Stop Insect & Disease Invasions
Tree City USA Bulletin #56—Sources for More Information
There is plenty of help available to anyone interested in joining the effort to monitor and control insect and disease pests that are impacting urban trees throughout the nation.
Books
Here are two “must have” books for anyone seriously interested in identifying tree pests. Both are nationwide in coverage, highly illustrated and over 500 pages in length. They are published by Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of Cornell University Press. These books are particularly valuable for identifying and learning the life cycles of the pests and tree species associated with each pest. These books do not include control suggestions. For the latter, local sources such as your county extension agent or a reputable arborist are the best places to start.
- Insects that Feed on Trees and Shrubs by Warren T. Johnson and Howard H. Lyon.
- Diseases of Trees and Shrubs by Wayne A. Sinclair, Howard H. Lyon and Warren T. Johnson.
Remember: All book purchases made through our arborday.org link to Amazon.com returns a portion of the sale price to the Arbor Day Foundation to support its educational programs in tree planting and environmental stewardship. Simply go to the Arbor Day Online Books section of this site.
Other Publications
There is a wealth of leaflets and booklets available on every insect and disease, usually published by government agencies. For example, “Pest Alerts” are single-page leaflets covering the major pests currently threatening America’s trees. These are published by the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry. The annual report by USDA Forest Health Protection scientists is Major Forest Insect and Disease Conditions in the United States.
Copies are available from:
USDA Forest Service—Forest Health Protection
1400 Independence Ave. S.W.,
Stop Code 1110
Washington,
DC
20250-1110
Video
An excellent video was produced as a student project and shown at the 2010 Partners in Community Forestry National Conference. Titled Bugged—The Race to Eradicate the Asian Longhorned Beetle, more information and individual copies in DVD format are available from Producer/Director Emily V. Driscoll.
EAB Webinars
You can keep up-to-date on invasive forest pests, especially the emerald ash borer, by participating in a free series of informational webinars. For more details and a schedule, visit www.emeraldashborer.info.
Organizations to Consider Joining
- The Society for Amateur Scientists
- Master Gardeners
- A tree board or other tree-related organization in your community
- Opportunities nationwide to volunteer in natural resource management agencies
Some Excellent Web Links
Organizations and Programs
- Urban Natural Resources Institute Citizen Science Monitoring Programs (in cooperation with the University of Vermont and others)
- Official site of APHIS, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- Minnesota’s Forest Pest First Detectors Program training opportunities
- Texas’ Citizen Scientist Program
- Alaska’s Integrated Pest Management Program
- Information about i-Ped and other software programs in the i-Tree suite
Specific Pest Information
- Emerald Ash Borer information. Navigate to “Information for Homeowner” to find the names of insecticides used to control EAB
- Asian Longhorned Beetle information. This site also includes access to other forest pests. Another of the many sites about ALB, including control information, is an APHIS Fact Sheet
- Hemlock Woolly Adelgid information is available from the USDA Forest Service and a consortium of scientists, land managers and others called Save our Hemlocks
- Good starting points for information about Sudden Oak Death are the California Oak Mortality Task Force and USDA APHIS
- An overview of Thousand Cankers Disease information is available as well as much additional information, including speakers’ slide shows presented at the first Thousand Cankers Disease of Black Walnut National Conference held in 2009
More Information
Call 1-888-448-7337 | Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM | CST
