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4000 `'� SHERBURNE COUNTY TREE BOARD 8 e 26401 - 180th Street Big Lake, MN 55309 (612) 263-8522 RECEIVED TO: Kathryn Fernholz, Westwood Professional Services, Inc. MAY 1 4 1998 FROM: Tim Edgeton, Sherburne County Forester SUBJECT: Fremont Lake Property & Trott Brook Farms WESTWOOD DATE: May 13, 1998 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES • Thank you for contacting us and taking the time to review the sites with rnc. Because of the impact oak wilt has had in Sherburne County and the correlation of new oak wilt being associated with newly developed properties, my primary interest and concern was the oak wilt status. Both of these sites were very typcial of Sherburne County's forest cover with oak as the primary tree species. Oak monocultures, sandy soil types, and areas with growth and new housing activity tend to be the 3 primary risk factors that oak wilt is most often associated with. The Sherburne County area has all three factors which has resulted in over 3000 oaks dying each year from oak wilt in Sherburne County for the past 10 years. This just provides a history of the oak wilt problem locally. Sor to doing the on-site inspections on April 28, individual dead trees or clumps of dead trees were identified using color infra-red aerial photos. While field checking these sites, we were able to determine the overall health of the entire area. Although there were several sites with dead trees, most of these areas were along lowland perimeter and were caused from previous drought stress. Except for 1 site, there were no signs of recent death or dieback nor were there any patterns to the mortality. This is a good indication that problems other that oak wilt caused the dead areas. The Fremont Lake property consists of nearly 300 acres with an estimated 50% being forest cover. Forest composition is primarily mixed oak including pin oak, bur oak, and white oak. Other species include aspen, cherry, hackberry, maple, and an old pine plantation. After inspecting the dead forested areas depicted on photos and walking throughout much of the property, there was no evidence of oak wilt found. li should be noted however that the area directly north of the property (located along 278th Ave.) did have oak wilt diagnosed (5 sites) and was treated in 1995 and 1997. • Being located within 1/4 mile of an oak wilt infection center puts the Fremont Lake property at increased risk for getting oak wilt via overland spread during plat development. Extra precaution should be taken when working in-the northern section of oak woods. Also, the pine plantation had a few pest problems. The Trott Brook Farm property consists of approximately 281 acres with an estimated 90 acres of forest cover located mostly in the northeast corner of property. Numerous wetlands scattered throughout the property and some gently rolling topography provide for some very unique . systems. The forest cover consists primarily of pin oak and bur oak. There were several small atches of dead oak trees identified but the majority were located near wetland edges and had been dead for several years. The lack of any recent mortality and the absence of any pattern to these dead areas again is a strong indication that oak wilt is riot the cause of the dead areas. One exception to this was an arca located along the south edge of the northeast 40 acres of the property (where it extends east). An area near the property line was diagnosed with an oak wilt infection center of significant size. -fn prevent nverlend end iarwiernrnijnd f;r)re d the rnrormmnnr'ntinn ic', fn