WISCONSIN — Just in time for National Invasive Species Awareness Week, the Eastern Region’s Forest Health Protection program and the Northern Research Station released a new oak wilt story map that will help inform natural resource managers combating one of the region’s greatest risks to oak health.

Oaks play a critical role in the forests of the Northeast and Midwest, supporting benefits such as wildlife habitat and food, increased biodiversity, and timber and wood products. First described in the 1940s, oak wilt now kills hundreds of thousands of oaks each year. The Eastern Region’s Forest Health Protection program and the Northern Research Station are helping states, partners and federal land managers better understand oak wilt disease and providing information and resources to slow its distribution and effects.

Since oak wilt disease is so variable, choosing an effective management approach can be challenging. The new story map, titled "Oak Wilt in the Northeastern and Midwestern States," provides a detailed overview of the disease to help natural resource managers determine the most appropriate tools for prevention and treatment.

For easy navigation and exploration, the story map organizes information in selectable tabs, including:

• Background and biology: Information on how oak wilt disease affects oaks and its distribution, development and spread.
• Distribution and severity: Maps of oak wilt distribution and where it is expected to cause the most damage.  
• Detection and surveillance: Information on symptoms, survey methods and how to submit a sample for confirmation.
• Factors affecting disease severity: In-depth information on the factors that lead to oak wilt causing serious damage in a forest and how these factors affect management.  
• Management approaches and tools: A look at the disease cycle and available tools to break the cycle, as well as criteria to help decide which tools might be most appropriate.
• Scenarios: Oak wilt management is not “one size fits all,” so this series of examples will show how land managers have chosen the most effective tools for their situation.