Studies of maple blight

Abstract

The upland northern hardwoods represent a forest type of great economic, biotic and aesthetic value throughout northeastern and northcentral United States and in southeastern Canada. Sugar maple, Acer saccharum Marsh., is usually the leading dominant in these stands in terms of numbers of trees and in size. Often the economy of the areas depends largely on the lumber produced from maple. For instance, in 1954, over 54,000,000 board feet of maple were cut from 2,663,000 acres of northern hardwoods in Wisconsin alone (Horn, 1957; Stone and Thorne, 1961). In recent years, a slow decline in vigor and frequent mortality of mature sugar maples occurred in northeastern United States and in southeastern Canada. The condition has been referred to as maple dieback. In 1957, foresters of the Goodman Division of Calumet and Hecla, Incorporated, reported a new condition characterized by the sudden deterioration of the crowns and the death of thousands of sugar maple trees and saplings in mixed northern hardwood stands. This condition occurred in areas of various sizes scattered over 10,000 acres in Florence County in northeastern Wisconsin. The disease occurred in stands with a history of intensive management and selective logging that in the previous several years had sustained severe defoliation by a complex of insects. Because of the rapid deterioration of all age class trees, the condition came to be known as Maple Blight.

Citation

Giese, R.L.; Houston, D.R.; Benjamin, D.M.; Kuntz, J.E. 1964. Studies of maple blight. Research Bulletin 250. Wisconsin and Purdue Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wisconsin, Madison. 129 p.