Not oak, but deadly serious. Black Walnut Thousand Cankers (KC) blight has jumped the final fail-safe barrier (the habitat gap of the Great Plains) and is now established in central Tennessee. Barring a miracle, this could mean the extinction of Juglans nigra throughout its native range. See report below.__._,_.___
Guy S.
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Thousand cankers disease (TCD) of walnut has been confirmed in Tennesee. I suggest that you stay in touch with your state department of agriculture colleagues for any updates that may come through APHIS PPQ. Currently there is no federal quarantine for the pathogen or the insect vector. According to the attached note from Ted Nisserat at Colorado State University who, along with colleagues confirmed the presence of both Geosmithia sp. and the beetle Pityophthorus juglandisfrom a sample sent by Dr. Scott Schlarbaum (Univ TN), the pathogen has been in the Knoxville area for several years causing decline and mortality. This is, of course, the first report of the presence of the disease within the native range of J. nigra. I'll continue to pass along to you any additional information about the find. If you haven't been thinking about thousand cankers disease in your survey and monitoring activities now might be a good time to revisit that. I've attached an analysis of the potential impacts of TCD prepared by the Kansas Forest Service and Kansas State University this past March to give you some idea of the scope of effects. Also attached is the pest alert that we prepared this spring. Stay tuned.
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Noel F. Schneeberger, Forest Health Program Leader
USDA Forest Service
Forest Health and Economics
11 Campus Blvd., Suite 200
Newtown Square, PA 19073
610.557.4121
610.557.4136 (fax)
email: nschneeberger@fs.fed.us
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