December 17, 2018 - by Senior Area Forester Joe Rosetti Every year, about 4-8 weeks after the deciduous trees lose their leaves, the pines of Virginia display a condition we will call Pine Yellows. Pine Yellows is characterized by about half of the needles on the seemingly healthy trees turning yellow, then after 1-2 weeks falling off. The trees do not display any other signs of disease or insect damage, and except for the... Read More
November 27, 2018 - It’s Deer Time Again by Area Forester Lisa Deaton It is autumn in Virginia, so white-tailed deer are on the move again. You may have noticed buck rubs on small trees similar to the one above and below. Bucks rub against trees to remove the velvet from their antlers when the antlers finish growing in September. They continue to rub against trees and shrubs to mark their territory with scent... Read More
November 20, 2018 - by Forest Health Specialist Katlin Mooneyham Here in the forest health program at DOF, we spend a lot of time talking about bad bugs and how to kill them. Much of our time working with landowners and other forestry professionals is spent identifying pests, giving management recommendations and, in some cases, even treating trees against a variety of problematic insects. The emerald ash borer, an insect that originates in Asia,... Read More
November 2, 2018 - by NOVA Area Forester Sarah Long The answer may surprise you. There is a common misperception that there is a direct correlation between a tree’s size and a tree’s age 100 percent of the time. The truth is, it is not usually possible to tell the age of tree just by looking at it (the exception is Eastern white pine which grows a new ring of branches for every year... Read More
October 12, 2018 - by Area Forester Lisa Deaton Wind Damage Last night was not a good night for sleeping in southeastern Virginia. The storms rolled through after dark, so we could only wonder what all the thumps and bumps meant. When I woke up this morning, I found a clump of three trees that had blown down in the woods next to our garden. On the bright side, I guess the frogs will... Read More
September 20, 2018 - by Area Forester Lisa Deaton Boogie Woogie Aphids Near the end of August, beech blight aphids, Grylloprociphilus imbricator, appear on American beech trees. They are easiest to find by locating patches of black sooty mold on the ground underneath infested beech trees. In the photo above, the orange fungus on the right was the first thing I noticed. Once I saw the sooty mold to the left, I looked up,... Read More
September 17, 2018 - by Area Forester Manij Upadhyay About a year ago, I transitioned from working in the Department of Forests in Nepal as a forest officer to the Virginia Department of Forestry. Here, I want to share some information about the community forest management system of Nepal, which is the most common practice. Nepal is a beautiful landlocked country with a total population of 28.98 million people. The country covers a total... Read More
September 5, 2018 - by Forester Lisa Deaton Fruit Every August, our agency assists the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries with their Mast Survey. Mast is not just a word to describe the tall post on ships; it is also a term used to describe the fruit of trees and plants that provide food sources for wildlife. Trees do not bear the same amount of fruit (i.e. nuts) reliably from year to... Read More
August 27, 2018 - by Senior Area Forester Scott Bachman Earlier this summer my co-workers and I were finally able to get out and measure a harvest in Southampton County. The harvest had been in a stand of bottomland hardwoods. The landowner retained a riparian buffer on both sides of the stream channel during the harvest to protect the water quality of a significant tributary of the Blackwater River. The Blackwater River is a... Read More
August 21, 2018 - by Forester Travis Tindell All photos courtesy of Dwight Dyle, DGIF Imagine a quiet morning. You stop and listen, the trees swaying gently as a breeze rolls through. The birds have been calling since before you woke up. The birdsong continues as you tune in, and then you hear it: the three-part whistle of the northern bobwhite. This bird is elusive and more often heard than seen. They call to... Read More
