The September CRISP Partners Virtual Meeting will feature updates from partner organizations after the 2021 field season.

Our featured speaker is Maria MoskaLee, DEC Forest Health Specialist, who will discuss Beech Leaf Disease (BLD). BLD affects and kills beech tree species. It is associated with a nematode, Litylenchus crenatae mccannii and is spreading in New York State.

Maria MoskaLee is a forest health specialist for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. For the past 15 years she has worked with forest health problems such as beech leaf disease, hemlock woolly adelgid, emerald ash borer, spruce decline, and many others. Maria earned her bachelor's degree in forest biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and is a certified arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture.

Beech leaf disease is the latest threat to beech trees in the northeast. It can kill mature beech in five or six years and younger trees even quicker. There is still much unknown about how it works and how it spreads. This presentation will go over the identification, biology, and history of beech leaf disease, as well as our monitoring and research efforts in NY.

Pre-register for the meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYude-gqTwjGdHm1MXY5Lpf3JU9vlOVpvFF