Beech trees (Fagus spp.) are currently threatened by a new disease that weakens and kills trees over time by killing buds and causing distorted leaf growth. Aptly named beech leaf disease (BLD), this disease was first detected in Ohio in 2012 and has rapidly spread across the Northeast since then. Join APIPP and Mina Vescera, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County Extension Educator: Nursery/Landscape Specialist, for a presentation on the biology of the disease, symptoms, and the important ecologic role of American beech in our forests. Mina will also discuss pesticide efficacy trials and upcoming trials regarding forest management.

After learning about BLD, APIPP Terrestrial Invasive Species Manager Ari Giller-Leinwohl will give an overview of how participants can put their BLD knowledge to work by becoming a volunteer Forest Pest Hunter. APPP’s Forest Pest Hunters adopt a trail to monitor for BLD in the summer and fall, and hemlock woolly adelgid in the winter, and report the results using the iMapInvasives app. Ari will cover basic survey techniques, how to sign up for a trail to survey, and how to use iMapInvasives, New York state's invasive species database, to report the presence of BLD.

This webinar offers 1.25 pesticide credits in categories 2, 3a, 9, 10, and 25. If you are attending this webinar for credits, live participation and passing a quiz are both required. A link to the quiz will be provided at the conclusion of the webinar and the quiz must be completed within 48 hours of the webinar's conclusion. Please have your Pesticide Applicator ID Number with you when you take the quiz.