Forest Research are undertaking a project aiming to understand how surveys for tree pests and pathogens can be more effective. Please see their invitation and sign-up form.
We are asking for help to find individuals that may be interested in participating at one of our acute oak decline field workshop days this September/October. We are looking for all levels of experience. All participants will benefit from the opportunity of hands-on AOD training by Dr Nathan Brown, a Forest Research AOD expert. We have a sign-up link below.
We will be looking at oak trees and learning to identify some of the pests and pathogens that cause their decline. The information we gather will be used broadly to inform us on how likely people are to see things when they are there and this will be used to evaluate different training methods, so we can improve how we work with volunteer groups and understand how to optimally integrate this with professional surveillance in the future. See Quantifying visual surveillance in tree health (warwick.ac.uk) for further details on the research and our previous findings.
We have currently arranged workshops at four sites: Attingham (near Shrewsbury), Hatchlands (near Guildford), Richmond Park (West London) and Blickling (near Norwich). More sites could follow if there is sufficient local interest. We are asking volunteers to attend for one hour of training and around three hours of activity where they can put their new acute oak decline detection skills to the test.
Participants will be asked to survey up to 80 trees or for a period of 3hrs (whichever is the shortest) and complete a couple of short questionnaires about their understanding of AOD and the activity. Transport and lunch costs (up to £60) can be reclaimed with receipts, and both entry and parking costs will be covered. Further details of the event days are on the sign-up form: forms.office.com/e/2v78f7NePB