UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA
FAIRBANKS
INFO IDEAS
College of Rural &
Community Development
Cooperative Extension Service
Anchorage Office
&
Putting Knowledge to Work
May/June, 2006 Vol. 10 Issue 3
The mystery behind the decline of Alder
The loss of a native
“keystone species”
has scientists concerned.
By Michael Rasy
IPM Statewide Technician
Have you noticed the Alder (Alnus spp.) shrubs browning and
dying in South-Central Alaska?
It starts off with “Zebra” brown
striping on the Alder leaves, and
by the time the leaves are fully
expanded in June they are brown
and dead. From Potters Marsh
to the Matanuska Valley, Alder
trees seem to be suffering high
mortality rates, leaving behind a
lot of unsightly brown sticks. As
we know, Alder is a very tough
native species that is able to survive in harsh growing conditions.
It is able to fix its own nitrogen
and thus able to deal with many
unfavorable site features. So
what’s going on here?
Scientist are trying to figure
that out. It turns out that the answer is not that simple. The species showing most symptoms is
thin-leaf alder (Alnus tenuifolia)
Some of the first symptoms. “Zebra” striping
on growing leaves (inset) and brown, drying of
leaves. Photo by Michael Rasy
with minor, incidental symptoms
on Sitka alder (Alnus crispa).
The symptoms began to surface
around the year 2000 and at that
time it was thought that some
isolated stands of Alder were suffering from drought stress. This
may still be the case, but a lot
of other factors have been discovered that may be tipping the
scales against some of our native
Alder shrubs.
Continued on page 2
IN THIS EDITION
Alder decline................................ 1- 3
Native plants..................................4 5
Creature Feature ........................ 6, 7
Extension Dateline........................... 5
Living Well Alaska............................. 7
4-H...................................................... 8
evenings from 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
June 26 –Westchester Lagoon
June 27 –Goose Lake Park
June 28 –Taku Lake
June 29 –Earthquake Park
Call Margaret Timmerman with Anchorage Dept. of Parks & Recreation at
343-4217 for more information & how to prepare for the event
Statewide weed Pull Week — June 23-30
Cooperative Extension Service
Alder
Continued from page 1
Normal and abnormal. Roughened,
raised lesions are symptomatic of
canker. Photo by Lori Trummer
Cooperative
Extension
Service
First we have insects, both native and exotic. The Striped Alder sawfly (Hemichroa crocea) is
a native Hymenoptera that feeds
on Alder foliage and can denude
a tree over the course of a growing season. This insect rarely increases its population to levels
where we would expect to see
them having a severe impact on
a trees’ health. At the most, their
feeding has had a negative impact on isolated stands of Alder,
but it does not appear enough
to kill the shrub. Next, we have
the exotic/imported Woolly Alder sawfly (Eriocampa ovata),
whose introduction into Alaska
has caused a lot of defoliation of
young Alder shrubs and whose
2221 E. Northern Lights Blvd.
Suite 118
Anchorage, AK 99508-4140
Anchorage Office
continual defoliation could potentially kill the shrub. This species of sawfly looks like a caterpillar and it is typically covered
with a white, woolly secretion,
that when molted looks like bird
droppings. Both of these sawflies
have an unknown impact on the
shrubs but are still part of the
puzzle of what is causing our Alder to die.
Then we have a fungal pathogen at work. A bark-inhabiting
fungus that is always present on
Alder in Alaska appears to have
become more aggressive, causing long stem girdling cankers.
The pathogen has been identified
as Valsa melanodiscus, (sexual
state) or Cytospora umbrina, (asContinued on page 3
Anchorage Office Faculty & Staff
Phone: (907) 786-6300
Susan Bybee
Julie Riley
Fax: (907) 786-6312
www.uaf.edu/ces
Administrative Assistant
Extension Horticulture Agent
Lee Elder
Donna Resnick
Natural Resource Economist
Administrative Assistant
Bob Gorman
Corlene Rose
Resource Development Agent
Integrated Pest Management
Program Manager
2006 Alaska Master Gardener Association
Anchorage Chapter President - Dana Klinkhart
2006 Family & Community Education
Anchorage Council President - Nancy Heckart
Marci Johnson
Home Economics Program Assistant
Home Economics Agent
Joe Jordan
2005/2006 4-H Leaders Council
Anchorage District President - Clarissa Smith
Administrative Assistant
CES office’s bi-monthly newsletter. To subscribe
electronically contact our office. Hard copies are
available for pick-up at our office.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service programs are available to all without
regard to race, color, age, sex, creed, national origin, or disability and in accordance with all applicable
federal laws. Provided in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in
cooperation with the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Anthony T. Nakazawa, Director, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Page Jamie Snyder
Invasive Plants Program Assistant
Marianne Kerr
4-H & Youth Development Agent
Subscriptions: Info & Ideas is the Anchorage
Leslie Shallcross
Fred Sorensen
Resource Agent/Water Quality
Heidi Leeney
EFNEP Nutrition Educator
Dora Wainwright
Administrative Assistant
Michael Rasy
IPM Statewide Technician
INFO & IDEAS
Cooperative Extension Service
Anchorage Office
Alder
Continued from page 2
sexual state). This fungal pathogen has been noted in Alaska
since the turn of the last century
and has rarely been associated
with much damage to Alder. This
pathogen may be becoming more
aggressive, able to overcome its
host trees’ defenses that usually
keep it in check, and become a
full-blown canker that can kill
trees. A canker by definition is
any localized necrosis of the bark
and cambium on stems, branches
or twigs. Cankers can be tree killers. But what has allowed this
ubiquitous fungal pathogen on
Alder to become more aggressive
and begin to kill its host?
Well the answer is that we don’t
have an answer. There is plenty
of speculation out there, but the
hard answers may only come to
us slowly. Certain theories suggest there could be a combination of stresses to the Alder, both
insect and environmental, that
has allowed an otherwise normal
pathogen to begin to overwhelm
its host. These canker fungi may
become more damaging when
temporary stress becomes sustained and perhaps permanent
stress. Multiple drought years
and continuous/increased insect
defoliation are more permanent
stresses that might not allow the
Alder to recover and may open
the door for these “weakly pathogenic” fungi. So how do we know
if we have this canker and what
do we do if we discover it on our
Alder?
A symptom of this canker is
roughened, raised lesions on
the bark. (See photo) Notice
the normal bark compared to
the bark with the canker under-
Peeling back bark reveals the necrotic dead tissue underneath. Remember to
sanitize after cutting. Photo by Lori Trummer
neath. Carefully peeling back
the bark will reveal the necrotic
dead tissue that is characteristic of a canker. Alder often times
has other factors occurring that
cause roughened bark, including
species characteristics and lenticels, so it will be important to distinguish between what is normal
bark and what is abnormal. In
fact, there is a known disorder of
Alder specifically called “Rough
bark of Alder”. The pathogen is
Didymosphaeria oregonensis, and
is more of a curiosity than a tree
killer. If you do peel back even a
little of the canker bark, it will be
important to disinfect the tool or
instrument used to make the cut.
Fungal spores can be transferred
to other trees from the cutting instrument. If the canker is found
on the main trunk or stem, then
the only control is the removal of
the tree. There are no fungicides
that will work. The tree will die
on its own if you decide to do
nothing about it. If the canker is
found on a branch or twig, they
can be pruned out and double
Page bagged or burned. Remember to
disinfect your pruning tool after
each cut. Otherwise, it will be
important to relieve any additional stress placed on your alder
shrubs by properly watering during times of drought and controlling defoliating insects as they
occur.
Whether you have Alder growing on your property or not, the
long-term ecological consequences of large-scale loss of an important riparian tree species is cause
for concern. Also, the loss of a
“Keystone species” — which Alder has proven to be with its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen
— has negative consequences for
other tree species. There is still
much to learn about the fungal
pathogen in question and all the
other factors that may be contributing to this recent phenomenon.
Contact your local district Cooperative Extension Service office
for more information concerning this disorder or ways to keep
your alder healthy.
INFO & IDEAS
Cooperative Extension Service
Anchorage Office
Using native plants in the home landscape
By Julie Riley
Extension Horticulture Agent
It’s easy to grow many of our
native wildflowers in a garden bed
along with horticultural perennials and most gardeners have wild
geranium or shooting star tucked
in some place. To replace existing
turf or plant bare soil around a
new house with native species is
a more daunting task.
The easiest approach to landscaping with native plants is to
work with existing native vegetation if you’re so lucky to have
some. A stand of native trees and
shrubs can provide a wonderful
backdrop for a naturalistic garden. Alders made great visual
barriers between you and the
neighbors, even during the winter. Think twice before removing
them.
It makes sense to try to rescue
plants that will be destroyed by
the blade of a bulldozer but in
practical terms, digging up native
plants with intertwining roots is
not easy. Once you identify construction sites with plants you’d
like to save, you usually have to
be ready to move quickly. Another obstacle may be getting permission to remove the plants at
all. Property owners often have
liability concerns.
Full sun and a soil scraped to
sand and gravel are the conditions many home landscapers
face. Wildflowers that grow in
this type of environment include
fireweed, both tall and dwarf,
Nootka lupine, and beautiful
Jacob’s ladder. In a natural setting, you don’t usually find large
meadows of these plants growing together. You see a mass of
fireweed or a lot of lupine mixed
with grass and other species. Will
you design your landscape to look
like a piece of nature or will it be
Native Plant Commercial Use Survey
CES Natural Resource Economist Lee Elder surveyed landscapers and landscape architects to see which species they
would be most interested in utilizing if plants were available.
Survey results presented at the Alaska 2006 Greenhouse &
Nursery Conference included the following:
TREES: white spruce, birch
SHRUBS: red-twig dogwood, dwarf birch
WILDFLOWERS: goats beard, wild geranium
FERNS: lady fern, wood fern
more stylized?
Seed of some native grass species is commercially available.
Master Gardeners in Eagle River
are trying Gruening alpine bluegrass, Poa alpina ‘Gruening’ and
Bering hairgrass, Deschampsia
beringensis ‘Norcoast’, cultivars
of native plants developed by the
Alaska Plant Materials Center in
Palmer. Both are bunch grasses
and do not spread like turf grasses to form a tight sod.
For a shady spot, dwarf dogwood, also known as bunchberry,
is an option for a ground cover.
Nursery-grown plants are available locally. Gardeners can also
find ferns, especially the ostrich
fern, at garden centers. Many
native ferns being sold have been
dug from the wild.
Twenty years ago people
thought nothing of digging up
native plants for their gardens.
Today most gardeners feel it is
unethical to dig from the wild.
Joining groups like the Anchorage Chapter of the Alaska Native Plant Society and the Alaska
Rock Garden Society will put you
in touch with plant enthusiasts
who regularly collect seed and
Continued on page 5
Page INFO & IDEAS
Cooperative Extension Service
Anchorage Office
Using native plants in the home landscape
Continued from page 4
share it with others.
Seed of a few Alaskan wildflowers can also be found at garden centers. Many businesses
collecting or harvesting native
seeds are short-lived. However,
new businesses enter the market
all the time. Beware that most
wildflower mixes contain a limited number of true Alaskan wildflower species or none at all. Most
of these ‘meadow’ mixes include a
large percentage of annual flowers like poppies and need to be
planted every year in order to get
an impressive display.
Starting seed from native
plants is not as easy as planting
marigolds. Many native species
have complicated dormancies and
require treatments such as cold,
moist conditions or scarification.
Other species are best propagated via cuttings. CES Natural
Resource Agent Bob Gorman has
been involved with a native plant
propagation project in Southeast
Alaska. Propagation recommendations will soon be available for
10 species including dwarf dogwood, early blueberry and twin
flower. Fact sheets produced by
Dr. Pat Holloway, Horticulture
Professor at UAF are available
on propagating seed of native
wild iris, Iris setosa, high bush
cranberry from cuttings and native ferns from spores. This information is available on-line or
by contacting CES in Anchorage,
786-6300.
Native plants brought in to a
garden setting don’t always behave like they do when growing
in the wild. The rhizomatous
native sweet grass, Hierochloe
odorata, planted in a bed at the
Alaska Botanical Garden spread
like wildfire and was removed
from the herb garden by volunteers. If fertilized like horticultural flowers, burnet, bluebells
and roseroot grow enormous and
flop over.
Native plants may be low
maintenance in the long run,
but the first year of planting,
especially those that have been
moved from the wild, will require
vigilant watering. Weeding will
also be an issue until your new
plants have filled in the bare
areas. Sometimes managing existing native vegetation will be
required. Woody plants may need
to be cut out of areas you want
to keep open and aggressive native grasses such as blue-joint
reed grass, Calamagrostis, might
need to be weeded out.
EXTENSION DATELINE
Thursday, May 11, 6 p.m. “Weed Warriors”, join a volunteer
weed pulling group for MOA. Class led by Jamie Snyder,
CES. Contact Margaret Timmerman, MOA, 343-4217.
Saturday, May 13, 10:00 a.m. “Gardening Without Invasive
Species”, Julie Riley, Alaska Mill Feed and Garden Center,
Anchorage, free.
Monday, May 15, 7:00 p.m. Anchorage Master Gardener Association meeting, “Flowers: A Few of My Favorites” Rita Jo
Shoultz, Fritz Creek Gardens and Master Gardener, CES
conference room, 786-6300.
Saturday, May 20, 10:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m., & 1:30 p.m. “Staking
Ideas for the Flower Garden”, Julie Riley, Alaska Botanical
Garden Plant Sale and Membership Drive, 770-3692.
Tuesdays, May 23 & 30, 12:00 p.m., Herb Study Group meets
at the Alaska Botanical Garden to clean-up and plant the
herb garden, Mary Shier, MG, 345-1562.
Wednesday, May 24, 10:00 a.m., Anchorage Master Gardener
Association, planting the entrance beds at the Anchorage
Pioneer Home, Linda Klinkhart, MG, 345-2672.
Saturday, May 27, 10:30 a.m., Anchorage Master Gardener Association planting the entrance beds at the Alaska Botanical Garden, Linda Klinkhart, MG, 345-2672.
Thursday, June 1, 6:30 p.m. North Root Big Lake Gardeners
meeting, “Staking Ideas for the Flower Garden”, Julie Riley,
Big Lake Library, 786-6300.
Monday, June 19, 7:00 p.m. Anchorage Master Gardener Association field trip, MG Gordon Pyle’s and other neighborhood
gardens, 3005 Willow Place (Spenard), CES 786-6300.
Page INFO & IDEAS
Cooperative Extension Service
Anchorage Office
Invasive Plant Creature Feature
Canada thistle
By Jamie Snyder
Invasive Plants Program Assistant
What is mean, green, and
spiny all over? Canada thistle
(Cirsium arvense) gets the leading role in this month’s Creature
Feature. Despite its common
name, Canada thistle does not
come from Canada. Native to the
Mediterranean region and possibly northern Africa, stow-away
Canada thistle seeds first sailed
to North America with the colonists in the early 1700s. Today
this plant is listed as “banned”,
“noxious” or “quarantined” in 32
states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
This weed really gets around!
Canada thistle clones rapidly
colonize public parks, greenbelts,
sport fields, trails, roadsides,
gardens, and agricultural fields,
creating painful, spiny barriers
to humans, pets, and wildlife. Infestations of Canada thistle can
be found in southeast Alaska,
throughout the Anchorage basin,
and spreading rapidly across the
Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Isolated populations have also been
identified on the Kenai Peninsula as for south as the City of
Homer, and in the community of
Cold Bay, on the western end of
the Alaska Peninsula.
Let’s take a moment to think
about the most notoriously problematic invasive plants in North
America today. These species
have gained their notoriety by
spreading aggressively across
many different regions of the
continent, and the world. Their
An infestation of Canada thistle spreading along the Seward Highway, outside of Anchorage. Photo by Michael Rasy Inset photo: A young Canada thistle
plant taking root in a recently landscaped area. USDA Forest Service photo
introduction to new regions is accelerated by the global economy,
with travelers and shipments of
goods criss-crossing the planet at
a rapid pace — well beyond the
pace of natural species movement on wind, water, and wild
animals. Invasive plants have a
variety of competitive strategies,
which make them difficult and
expensive to control. “The Big the
Bad and the Ugly” of the invasive
plant world have some interesting combinations of attributes
which allow them to colonize new
areas and expand under a wide
range of growing conditions. For
example, many invasive plants
are able to produce exceptionally
large amounts of seed (sexual reproduction) as well as grow new
clones from parts of the same
plant (vegetative reproduction).
Canada thistle is one of these
plants, able to spread by airborne
seed and expanding networks of
roots. Once established, Canada
thistle clones can expand up to
2 meters in diameter in a single
growing season! Vertical roots
are a year-round storehouse
for water and nutrients, while
Page horizontal roots produce aboveground shoots. Each spring buds
on Canada thistle’s creeping root
system give rise to spiny new
stems, which can grow up to 4
feet tall. Each stem can then
produce thousands of seeds per
growing season, which drift on
wind and water, and start new
patches wherever they land.
Canada thistle root fragments
and seeds are sometimes unwanted hitchhikers in landscaping material. You can save time
and money by scouting around
recent landscaping projects and
removing newly-sprouted Canada thistles, which arrived in
root balls or fill dirt. In this case,
an ounce of prevention is worth
more than a pound of cure!
Think you’ve spotted Canada
thistle growing in your neighborhood? You may want to put on
your thickest work gloves, cut a
sample, and bring it in to the Extension Office for a positive ID. If
you’d like to test your own botany
skills, look for these characteristics:
Continued on page 7
INFO & IDEAS
Cooperative Extension Service
Anchorage Office
Living Well Alaska! — a course for people
living with chronic health conditions
By Leslie Shallcross, Home Economics Agent
Have you ever said to yourself, “I know what I
should be doing; I’m just not doing it”?
Sometimes we know what we should do, but we
don’t always know how to do it. The ‘how’ may
require some skills in goal setting and problem
solving. This is especially important for someone
facing the difficulties of living with a chronic disease.
Of the many skills we need for effective living,
we rarely think of the skills needed for living with
a chronic health condition. Yet the average person over 50 years old has 2.5 chronic conditions.
The person with a chronic disease may have a daily struggle with symptoms such as fatigue, pain,
sleeping problems and difficult emotions. If not
managed well, these symptoms can prevent individuals from living a happy and productive life.
Diabetes, asthma, fibromyalgia, heart disease,
and rheumatoid or osteo-arthritis are some common and challenging chronic health conditions.
In order to live life to the fullest, we may need
to examine how the condition affects us and how
we can become effective managers of our condi-
Canada thistle
Continued from page 6
•Oblong leaves with spinetipped edges. Mature leaves are
described as “wavy” looking.
• Leaves are darker green and
smooth on the upper surfaces,
and lighter green (sometimes
To learn more about
Canada thistle, visit the
following websites:
(Or do your own search on the internet.
You’ll be amazed at how many websites
there are to choose from!)
tions. Stanford University has developed a course
for just this purpose and
the Anchorage Cooperative Extension is currently offering two of these 6-week courses entitled Living
Well Alaska.
Some of the topics covered are nutrition, using
medications, exercise, communication, and dealing with emotions. Participants are encouraged
to seek out information and they are asked to
put the information into action. The emphasis on
action is one of the biggest differences between
Living Well Alaska and many “support groups”.
At each session, participants are asked to set a
weekly goal or action plan. The following week,
barriers to achieving goals are identified. By the
end of the 6-week course, participants have practiced new health habits, they have practiced new
skills in problem solving, and they are on the way
to reclaiming a healthy and pleasurable life.
For information about the next Living Well
Alaska course call CES at 907-786-6313
hairy) on the undersides.
• The base of each leaf appears
to clasp the stem.
• Flowerheads are pink to light
purple (rarely white).
• The scale-like leaves at
the base of the flowers, called
“bracts”, are spineless. (In other
thistle species the bracts have
spines.)
• Large “puffs” of seeds are
produced when flowers go to
seed. Each seed is attached to
white hairs, (like dandelion
seed), which allows it to travel on
the wind.
• National Invasive Species Information Center
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/canthistle.shtml
• The Nature Conservancy Global Invasive Species Initiative
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/esadocs/cirsarve.html
• Alaska Natural Heritage Program, Weed Ranking Project
http://akweeds.uaa.alaska.edu/akweeds_ranking_page.htm
(Scroll down and select Canada thistle)
Page INFO & IDEAS
4-H:
Get creative, get involved, make a plan of how to try it
and then learn it by doing it!
By Marianne Kerr
4-H & Youth Development Agent
“I’m sooo bored” “There’s nothing to do” It’s summer and the
first few days of freedom from
school have worn thin and now
the children around you want to
be entertained and are looking at
the adults around them to make
it happen. Sound familiar? If
you’ve ever been a child out of
school for the summer, or a parent
or adult around a child on vacation, you have heard variations on
this theme.
4-H programs can offer solutions
to solve all those boredom issues.
Get involved in a 4-H program or
form your own 4-H club. Many
clubs meet only in the summer or
during the school year depending
on the schedules of the youth and
adults who participate.
Ask a child: What do you like
to do in the summer? Do you like
trying and learning new things?
Do you like to explore and have
adventures? Do you like
working
with
your hands?
If the answer
ty service; volunteering as a club
or group of families from the club
can be a good way to build friendships, community spirit
photography
nutrition
and teamwork. Anchortechnology
clothing
age area 4-H clubs have
leadership
dogs, cats, rabbits made quilts to donate,
assisted at senior centers
robotics
woodworking
and provided help for anhorticulture
health
imals in need.
entomology
citizenship
4-H is for all kids—
visual arts
child care
anyone age 5-18 can join,
boys and girls meet toentrepreneurship
pets
gether. In fact, the betoutdoor adventures food & cooking
ter the mix the more interesting the club can be.
Being part of a large mixed group
All of the above are 4-H projencourages leadership and coopects; there are easy-to-understand
eration.
books for each category filled with
For many years 4-H had the
ideas and ways to experience
reputation of only being for farmthe learning. For the adults who
ing or rural areas and you had to
get involved, there are “helpers
raise a livestock animal or ride
guides” for each project full of
horses…take another look! It’s
hints and tips of how to create a
easy to start a club; training is
hands-on atmosphere with youth
provided and on-going support is
who want to be self directed and
part of the leaders’ association.
learn at their own pace.
In the Anchorage area, please
A 4-H club or members can also
call the Anchorage district office
decide to do more than one projat 786-6305 and find out how evect; it is fun for youth members to
eryone in your family, school or
learn from each other. Another
neighborhood can get involved.
big component of 4-H is communiany of the questions is “yes” then
4-H has many programs and projects to try. For instance:
4-H agents recognized for service
Extension 4-H and Youth Development Agents Marianne Kerr
and Candi Dierenfield have been recognized for their part in providing exceptional service to children, youth and families of military personnel around the world. 4-H military liaisons in each
state received a framed copy of a certificate of commendation
recognizing their work. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote a personalized message on the back of each certificate.
National 4-H has partnered with Army and Air Force family and
youth programs since 1995. Most recently, outreach has been expanded to children and families of National Guard and Reserve
service members with duty assignments in the Middle East.