Federal and state monitoring: The recovery of storm-damaged sugar bushes in northern New York
US Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture and the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
After the January 1998 ice storm, Cornell University undertook a study with the US Forest Service and the NY Department of Environmental Conservation to assess the damage and recovery of New York sugarbushes. Using the ice storm damage assessment protocol established by the Forest Service, sixty plots in twelve locations were measured and established in 1998, and were then monitored annually. Ten locations are in Clinton and St. Lawrence Counties (five each), which comprise the most severely damaged regions. Franklin and Essex Counties each contain one location.The study follows the growth and health conditions of 285 trees, most of which are sugar maple. Thanks to cooperating maple producers, a tremendous amount of information has been recorded and forwarded to the USDA Forest Service. While initial damage was significant, these data show good recovery in some sugar bushes and few problems with insects and disease. In fact, large diameter mature trees within the study plots that were severely damaged are continuing to express an increase in diameter and maintain taphole closure. The crown branches that survived the storm along with newer epicormic branches are not showing large amounts of dieback.
Sugarbush tree age
The annual monitoring data and observations suggest that uneven-aged sugarbushes sustained the least amount of ice storm-related damage. Uneven-aged stands, consisting of 5-20 inch diameter sugar maples, may have offered the greatest crown support. These stands exhibited the lowest percentages of crown damage and tree failure. Young even-aged stands (saplings and small-diameter trees) also did not suffer high percentages of damage and are now providing enough shade to sustain medium to heavy maple regeneration.Older even-aged stands suffered the worst crown damage. Mature and overmature sugar maples generally have large diameter limbs supporting a larger area of leaf and twig surface. These large limbs carried heavier ice loads and were less flexible than the limbs of younger trees. The damage in these stands has allowed for increased amounts of sunlight to reach the forest floor. This additional sunlight has changed the microclimate of the forest floor considerably, favoring the growth of many light-tolerant plant species (e.g., raspberry and blackberry) over shade-tolerant sugar maple seedlings.
2001 data
When the fourth year of data were collected in August 2001, all sugarbushes were experiencing severe drought conditions brought on by rainfall levels 6-7 inches below normal. Though many of the even-aged mature sugarbushes were showing increased amounts of ground cover, many of these shallow-rooted plants were heavily wilted as a result of the dry weather. The sugar maple saplings and trees appeared to be growing well, though leaf curling and lack of deep green color foliage was observed occasionally. Leaf margins did not show any signs of browning or burning during this period of deficit rainfall for most of the region.The insect pest most often observed was the maple leaf cutter, present in medium to high numbers in all 12 sugarbush locations. The maple leaf cutter was not observed in large numbers during the previous three years' field monitoring. Damage as a result of the sugar maple borer during pre-storm years, however, has been noted in a number of the sugarbush locations.Although one cooperating producer stated that many heavily ice-damaged over-mature sugar maples within other areas of his sugarbush were dying or dead as could be expected, observations in our study plots indicate that the majority of sugar maple trees are continuing to survive. Producers are very interested in the health and recovery of their trees and have responded by tapping conservatively. Many producers have also converted to the use of small diameter spouts, which offer promise for lower impact to the tree-tapping zone. The ice storm sugarbush monitoring project is planned to continue through the 2002-growing season. A report of the 5-year project will completed at that time.
Damage levels by area were determined with aerial (left) and ground surveys (right). Click on the images to view them in better detail.
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Support was provided by: Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; USDA Forest Service; New York Department of Environmental Conservation; and maple producers in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, and St. Lawrence Counties.