*October Highlight*

Barbara Burns: Keeping a Bird's Eye View on Vermont's Forests

Considering “it’s pretty hard to see a caterpillar from the air”, Barbara Burns, Protection Forester for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation, does the next best thing as she soars above Vermont, getting an aerial perspective on the condition of the state’s forests. Each year, armed with a good sense of what pests to look for and where they’re likely to show up, Burns tours the state in a high-wing, four-seater Cessna (usually a 182 or 172), taking detailed notes of the type, severity, and extent of forest damage she sees. When asked who accompanies her on these trips, Burns replied: “Anyone on the forestry staff who has the stomach for flying, the vision for detection, and whatever it takes to sit in a noisy, cramped space, and concentrate on one thing for four straight hours.”

Working from a regular crew of eight, each trip skyward is made by one pilot and two observers. It takes the crew from eight to ten days to cover the entire state, which is carried out in the aforementioned four hour stints. After that Burns comments, “most mortals have had it”.

Although unable to see caterpillars from the air, these Forest Resource Protection specialists have been trained to recognize different patterns of defoliation and are able to identify the responsible parties – most of the time. When they do encounter unfamiliar damage, members of the team are sent into the woods for a closer look.

A group of usual suspects is responsible for most of the damage Burns and company come across. Certain familiar pest species, such as the spruce budworm, saddled prominent, gypsy moth, and forest tent caterpillar, may exist at nearly undetectable levels for years, and then experience periodic spikes in population. Burns is continually monitoring these culprits, tracking their damage and keeping the public informed.

Burns also spends considerable time on the look out for newly arriving invasive pests. Although the hemlock wooly adelgid hasn’t infiltrated Vermont yet, she warns that forests in the West and Deerfield River watersheds are particularly susceptible - especially as compared to the rest of the state. Scientists know that the adelgid, a native of Asia, has thus far been limited in its spread by cold winter temperatures. “When it is introduced (to Vermont) we expect to see it in the warmer areas, in the southern part of the state first.”

The forest tent caterpillar and a disease known as ash yellows are also greater threats to the forests of southern Vermont than elsewhere in the state. Ash yellows is caused by what are referred to as ‘mycoplasma-like organisms’ (MLOs); wall-less microbes that are transmitted by leaf-hoppers and related insects. These MLOs invade the phloem, inhibit growth, and ultimately cause decline and death in ash trees.

A native insect pest, the forest tent caterpillar, thrives during intervals when particularly cold winter weather is followed by a warm spring - as was the case in 2003-2004. Once an outbreak has occurred, it commonly takes a few years before the population returns to a noticeably less destructive level. In the mean time these hungry insects can do an unnerving amount of damage to our hardwoods; especially the sugar maple, oak and ash.

What’s a landowner to do? Burns stresses the importance of knowing what pests are out there, and how to identify them. She also urges folks not to panic when they see damage on their property. “Sometimes things look a lot worse than they are” she says, “just because the tree’s been defoliated for a year doesn’t mean it’s going to die”. She cautions that prematurely cutting trees because they might get sick is unneccesary and can be a serious mistake.

When in doubt, Burns encourages concerned landowners to seek professional assistance and contact their county or private consulting forester.

This is always good advice, especially when it comes from a knowledgeable authority with this kind of perspective...