Beech Leaf Disease Survey Questions

June 11, 2021 Update:
Spring is here! The beech leaves are out and it is now time to survey. Beech Leaf Disease is on the move and has apparently been discovered for the first time in Maine very recently.

The monitoring project office has decided not to hide the pins on the master project map that locate the surveys that were conducted in 2020, because many people are resurveying the same locations this year. Leaving the 2020 pins in place allows people to accurately place their new pins for the 2021 surveys. Unfortunately, the dataform does not include a field for "survey date", so no one but the site administrator can tell when the surveys were performed.

Therefore, please include your survey date in your Additional Notes (Item 17, below).
If entering your survey results at the CMP website, also include the survey date within the Point Title.

For educational purposes, under a License Agreement with Cleveland Metroparks, I have recreated the Survey page of the CMP web site and made it into this page. This will make everything easier for you to browse. If you are going to participate in the project without a smartphone, this Survey page will give you all the questions you will need to answer when you get home from the woods. I recommend that you print out this web page, telling your printer to "Shrink To Fit", so that the 3 or so pages on paper do not cut anything off the right side of the page.

NOTE: This page is a facsimile and has no functionality for the actual submittal of data.

Clicking on the photos will get you to the full size photo with higher resolution. That feature is not available on the CMP web site.
To get back to this page from a photo, click the back arrow on your browser or [ALT]+[←] on your keyboard.

#QuestionChoicesIllustration
1. What state or province are you currently in? If not listed, then "Other"
2. What county are you in? If state was "Other", include it after the county name,
e.g., "Carroll County, NH" or "Kent County, RI".
3. What is the size of the tree? Measurements correspond to the diameter of the tree at breast height (1.4 meters or 4.6 ft off the ground). Give your best estimate
4. How many leaves are on the tree? (Judge whether or not the tree looks like it has a full canopy or is missing a notable amount of leaves).
5. Note: The next three answers should add up to approximately 100%. Of the leaves present, what percentage are normal shape and size without any striping? (Leaves with no BLD symptoms)
6. Of the leaves present, what percentage are normal in shape and size with banding (mild BLD symptoms)?
7. Of the leaves present, what percentage are shrunken and curled? (heavy BLD symptoms)
8. Take a picture of leaves showing the worst symptoms on the tree. This could be a healthy leaf, a mild symptom leaf with banding, or a heavy symptom leaf that is dark, shrunken and curled. June 28, 2021 update: Front-lit photos can be ambiguous. If symptoms are not obvious in your photo, try back-lighting the leaves against the sky. See bottom of Project page for details.
Add 1 photo. Watch your screen as you click "Upload" for a quick pop-up that indicates success in uploading. Your photo will NOT appear in the box that looks like it is there for that very purpose. Once you have moved on to upload photos for other questions, DO NOT return to this question and click "Upload" again, as your original photo will be overwritten.
9. Take a picture of a leaf that is most representative of the leaves on the tree. This may be a completely healthy leaf or one showing BLD symptoms. Add 1 photo. Same as with Question 8, watch your screen as you click "Upload" for a quick pop-up that indicates success in uploading. Your photo will NOT appear in the box that looks like it is there for that very purpose. Once you have moved on to upload photos for other questions, DO NOT return to this question and click "Upload" again, as your original photo will be overwritten.
10. Are there signs of beech bark disease (BBD)? Beech scale insects are tiny white clusters on the bark. Nectria is a small, red fungus that enters through cracks on the bark from scale insects. Cankers or abnormal bark often form as a result of beech bark disease.
11. Do the leaves show insect damage from mites? Look for light patches along leaf veins.
12. Is there necrotic tissue? (Brown, dead, crunchy patches on the leaves)
13. Is there leaf rolling along the margins from aphids that cause yellowing and a cracked glass appearance? This can sometimes give the appearance of BLD symptoms but is not caused from BLD.
14. Are there beech blight aphids? (White, fluffy clusters along branches, stems, or the underside of leaves.
15. Is there bud suspension? Buds fail to develop, yet remain on twigs through July. They are small, papery, thin, and may crumble when touched
16. Is the tree fruiting? Generally only large, mature trees will fruit in the upper canopy. Some fruit may be scattered on the ground around the tree.
17. Enter any additional notes you would like. Be as detailed as possible. Add notes. Include the survey date.
If you have GPS coordinates, this is where to report them.
18. If you want to collect additional points, record only when you see different symptoms more than 50 paces apart. Example: one area is asymptomatic, one area has several lightly infected trees, and a third area has several heavily infected (or dead) trees = take at least 3 points. Record one point for every 25-50 acres regardless of symptoms. Example: a 300 acre plot of land might have 6-12 records maximum.
19. Optional: Submit a photo of other symptoms you see. Add only 1 photo. Same as with Question 8, watch your screen as you click "Upload" for a quick pop-up that indicates success in uploading. Your photo will NOT appear in the box that looks like it is there for that very purpose. If you attempt to upload an additional optional photo, your previously uploaded photo for this question will be overwritten. Only the final photo uploaded will stay. At least in the web site version, as of this posting, there is no provision for editing any mistakes you may make.

You may send me an email at province-lake-water@cox.net .


The Tree Health Survey and its photos are used by License Agreement with Cleveland Metroparks.

"Content provided by Cleveland Metroparks was made possible by funding from
the USDA Forest Service Emerging Pest and Pathogen funding."

This web site is owned by E and I Services, LLC and has no affiliation with any other organization.
Page layout Copyright © 2020-2024 by E and I Services, LLC.