Wilting Oaks Need Your Help!

Brown and dying oak leaves mid-summer in green and lush woods. Upon seeing this, landowner Dale Parker contacted the local DNR forester and heard the phrase “oak wilt” for the first time. Dale learned that careful management of the disease prevents rapid spread.

Because oak wilt spreads below and above-ground, managing it requires a one-two punch: isolating and removing infected trees from the woods. In Dale’s case, he hired the electric company to trench around them, then Dale removed them.

“Getting the infected trees out of the woods was important to protect the rest of my oaks. If the oak wilt had been allowed to spread, it would have gone very rapidly,” Dale explains.

Dale is right – passive management of the disease results in more infected oaks! Contact your local forester if you suspect you have oak wilt in your woods.