Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest officials have released a plan to control an array of invasive plants but also to contain a growing threat known as oak wilt. Invasives tend to alter the natural landscape.
Forest spokesperson Teresa Maday says since 2015 they've been working on a strategy to manage invasive species. She says they're working on a more rapid response to all the news invasive sites that are found...
"This year we have found about 346 new sites and we're working on controlling those sites for this year. We're looking at different control methods including cutting, pulling application of herbicide..."
Higher priority species to target include garlic mustard, buckthorn, Japanese barberry, and Asiatic honeysuckle. But the tree-killing oak wilt has taken a high priority says Maday...
"It's fairly new in this area so we want to catch it early and we want to be able to treat our oak stands as quickly as possible and stop the spread..."
Oak wilt is a fungal disease that can be spread by beetles or from tree to tree through underground root grafts.
The Forest Service partnered with the University of Georgia and Wildlife Forever in 2019 and developed a mobile APP on which citizens can report non-native invasive species they find on the national forest called Wild Spotter.
