Squirrel Work Tree Care

09/17/2026

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When planning a landscape, it is easy to get distracted by exotic, ornamental trees that look pretty but offer absolutely zero ecological value. A tree like a ginkgo might have interesting leaves, but it is effectively a plastic statue, supporting perhaps five species of native caterpillars. In stark contrast, a single native oak tree is the ultimate keystone species of the American ecosystem. Oaks host and feed over 500 different species of caterpillars across the continental US. Why does that matter? Because a single clutch of baby songbirds requires thousands of caterpillars to survive to adulthood. If you plant sterile, non-native trees, the birds have nothing to feed their young, and the local food web collapses. Your choice of a canopy tree is the single biggest deciding factor in whether your yard becomes a living habitat or a biological dead zone.

09/16/2026

So glad they’re cutting down the live oaks to make room for apartments. Bravo Charleston. 🤦

Charleston County’s board of zoning appeals approved a developer’s request to remove three grand trees on Folly Road on James Island to make way for nearly 100 apartments. (Full story below.)

07/15/2026

When a big storm moves toward Tennessee, the sky isn’t the only thing getting charged up — our trees feel it too. Scientists recently found that trees can make tiny electric sparks during thunderstorms. Using a special UV camera, they watched sweetgum and pine trees and saw quick flashes of light called corona discharges. These flashes jump from one leaf or needle to another as the storm’s electric field gets stronger. Each spark gives off a huge number of UV photons and sends a very small electric current through the tree. Researchers also saw the same thing happening in storms from Florida to Pennsylvania, which means whole forests may glow with invisible light when the air becomes highly charged. These sparks do more than glow — they create hydroxyl radicals that help clean pollution from the air, they can burn the tips of leaves, and they may even send a tiny bit of charge back into the storm.

For Tennessee’s urban forests, this discovery matters. Our city trees are active during storms, not just standing still. They help clean the air, they feel electrical stress we never measured before, and they play a small part in how storms behave. This research helps Tennessee communities better understand what our trees go through so we can keep our urban forests healthy, strong, and ready for whatever wild weather comes next.

This message brought to you by the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council. For more information, visit https://tufc.com/. To become a member, click https://tufc.com/membership/.

05/20/2026

This is one of the reasons we encourage retaining the lower 30-40 feet of hollow or partially decayed trees whenever possible in wooded areas. This vertical habitat is incredibly important for many species, and makes for very entertaining bird watching as an elevated perch for owls and hawks.

05/18/2026

These trees are highly invasive, with poor structure and very prone to catastrophic storm damage. They also host spotted lantern fly, which is a noxious invasive species threatening the local ecosystem. If you have one, get rid of it!

Tree-of-heaven is an invasive w**d tree growing aggressively along NC roadsides and yards, and it's the spotted lanternfly's favorite host plant. Here's how to identify it and why removing it matters more than ever this spring.

04/21/2026

Important news for landowners of forested tracts: The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services was awarded a U.S. Department of Agriculture block grant to support Hurricane Helene recovery. Part of these disaster recovery funds will be administered by the N.C. Forest Service through a new Timber Loss Relief Program (TLRP). TLRP funds will be used to partially compensate eligible woodland owners for the value of timber loss as a result of Hurricane Helene.

The TLRP began accepting landowner applications yesterday (April 20, 2026), and will remain open for a two-month period, until June 12, 2026. TLRP timber damage assessment reports associated with a landowner’s TLRP application will need to be submitted by July 10, 2026.

To begin the application process, landowners should contact their local N.C. Forest Service county ranger’s office directly. If staff are unavailable in that office, the N.C. Forest Service district offices overseeing county offices can be contacted. Contact information is available here: https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/nc-forest-service/contacts