2001 North Central Forest Pest Workshop-Oak Wilt Breakfast Discussion October 4, 2001 Dr. Jenny Juzwik led the discussion, and about 20 other people from State natural resource agencies, universities, federal agencies, and private industry participated. The purpose of the discussion was to share information and identify ways in which people throughout the region can more effectively manage oak wilt disease. The discussion centered on the topic areas of detection/monitoring, education, and control actions. Detection/Monitoring A small group of State representatives has been organized to look at opportunities for funding for a demonstration project for detection of OW using satellite imagery, color IR photos, and other technologies. They will probably compare rural and urbanizing areas. In the first instance, they are seeking funding for a USDA FS Technology Development Project. The methods developed through this project may ultimately be useful to get data to fill gaps on behavior of OW disease (e.g. how it moves in mixed hardwood stands on different soil types) Graham Mahal is finishing up an MSc project at the University of Minnesota, comparing root graft barrier placement models. This should yield valuable information on placement of barriers, as well as how well the barriers work. The equipment (combined electronic distance measuring and GPS system) Graham has been using may be available for further projects down the line-contact Joe O'Brien at the USDA FS if you are interested in a collaborative project using this equipment. Frank Sapio reported that Michigan is developing a web-reporting system for people to submit information on oak wilt finds. Education Bruce Moltzan suggested that in Missouri one of their greatest OW management needs is to develop an education program for the public. Several resources are available for education, including: -- Jane Cummings Carlson's chapter in the new APS Press "Wilt Diseases" book. -- Rich Hauer (MN Dept of Ag) has compiled a list of resources --The St. Paul Field Office of the USFS hosts an oak wilt website -- Michigan State University has just developed a new extension pub on OW -- A couple of years ago Linda Haugen pulled together a slide set on OW Actions: Joe O'Brien should be asked to update the OW website to have links to these and other resources. Linda Haugen should put the slide set into a powerpoint presentation and make it available on the website. Jenny Juzwik will assist with getting proper releases for the slides. Control Actions (Updates, limitations) Herbicides: Linda Haugen provided a brief summary of recent herbicide studies. If the root crowns of a buffer zone of trees around an OW pocket can be rapidly and effectively killed with herbicides, it will form a barrier to movement of the OW fungus through root grafts. Herbicide combinations have been identified that effectively kill trees, but the root crowns are not rapidly killed. Without a method to rapidly kill root crowns, herbicides have limited promise. Plowing/Trenching: Barriers to use include political problems (particularly in Michigan) and economic constraints. Michigan is interested in funds for private implementation of trenches-it was pointed out that they would probably need to work through the DNR to get suppression funding from the US Forest Service. Phil Marshall suggested that there is the potential to seek urban forestry $ for trenching, rather than just relying on forest health sources of funds. There is a data gap on the depth needed to form an effective barrier when using a backhoe. Propiconazole: There is a tremendous need for data to validate recommendations on the use of propiconazole for the prevention of OW. Jenny Juzwik is pursuing getting $ to implement a study on this. Insect Vectors: Much progress has been made on identifying the probably vectors of OW. There is potential to develop pheromone traps to determine the active period of insect vectors. These notes captured the gist of the discussion at NCFPW-if you have questions about the context or more details on any of these topics, let one of us know…   Linda Haugen (lhaugen@fs.fed.us) Kathy Kromroy (kromr001@tc.umn.edu)