September 13, 2019 - By Project Learning Tree Coordinator Page Hutchinson Look A Little Closer… Although I work for the Virginia Department of Forestry, my job doesn’t actually allow me much time in the forest. Being a tree hugger from way back, I take as many opportunities as I can to get in the forest. On the recent Labor Day holiday, my friend Karen and I went for a hike on the Graves Mill... Read More
September 11, 2019 - By Area Forester Lisa Deaton Dung Beetles A local farmer asked me to examine a 40-year-old stand of loblolly pines to see if they were large enough to harvest. A corn field was located in the center of the property and we noticed some very fresh deer scat along the field edge. On the way back to the truck we saw something moving on the ground. It was a dung... Read More
September 10, 2019 - By Emerald Ash Borer Coordinator Meredith Bean It was August 27, very late in the season to be treating ash for protection against the emerald ash borer (EAB), and we were about to do just that. With the state’s most active “Big Tree hunter” as our guide through the swamps of Cypress Bridge Natural Area Preserve, we hopped into canoes to find the largest Carolina ash trees on record in... Read More
August 16, 2019 - by DOF Forest Health Specialist Katlin Mooneyham The Virginia Department of Forestry is taking forest management to new heights! The agency has recently purchased three drones and certified three drone pilots (with three more taking the test soon!) thanks to a U.S.D.A. Forest Service Landscape Scale Restoration grant. The use of drones in forestry is a newer field and DOF is investigating exactly how we can use these tools in... Read More
August 15, 2019 - By Intern Marissa Ardovino As the summer comes to an end, I’ll recall one day I spent in Conway Robinson State Forest… I walked quietly down the blue trail at Conway Robinson State Forest, rounding a bend in the path when suddenly a small branch shot backwards and retracted upon itself into the depths of a thorny blackberry bramble. I stopped and listened to soft rustling in the shadows of... Read More
August 13, 2019 - By Area Forester Lisa Deaton Spiders August is spider month. If you have ever been the first person in line on a hiking trail, you have probably experienced the feeling of a spider web wrapping around your face. Just about the time you remove that web, another one lands in its place. By late summer, these “shell-backed” spiders (above), Micrathena gracilis, seem to have taken over the forest and cobwebs... Read More
August 6, 2019 - By Area Forester Lisa Deaton Country Roads The last few generations of trees have literally grown over top of numerous changes in our transportation network. Sometimes what looks like a wide trail or ditch is actually a road to an old homestead, as in the photo below. Sometimes the old roads follow property line boundaries (below). Sometimes, we come across former logging roads (below). This can simplify preparations for the... Read More
July 23, 2019 - by DOF Forest Health Program Manager Lori Chamberlin The yellow-poplar weevil has made its presence known again in southwest Virginia. This native insect generally causes very little damage, but the population increased enough this summer to have a noticeable impact on yellow-poplars in the southwest part of the state. The weevils are black and small, only about 1/8th of an inch long. Since this pest is a weevil, it has... Read More
July 1, 2019 - by DOF Wildfire Prevention Program Manager Fred Turck June 30 through July 6 provides an opportunity for those who manage and battle wildland fires to remember, reflect and learn from the tragic incidents that have taken the lives of wildland firefighters. This week invites us to examine the past and lessen the likelihood that such tragedies will recur in the future. We will never have zero wildfires; however, we can... Read More
June 24, 2019 - by Sara Hunt, Project Plant It! Page Hutchinson, the DOF’s forest education specialist, shared her knowledge of trees with students who were enrolled in Dominion Energy’s Project Plant It! program. During the month of April, she visited Meriwether Lewis Elementary in Albemarle County and Thomas Jefferson Elementary in Louisa County. Her interactive presentations helped the students understand more about the products that come from trees and also about the important... Read More
