New Research from CT Extension Service

Researcher Robert Marra associated with the Connecticut Agricultural Extension Station, will be conducting an 8 to 10 year long monitoring program focusing on beech trees afflicted with a new disease — beech leaf disease. Now present in Greenwich, New Canaan and  Stamford,  they are watching for it in various forest ecosystems including the Hills where a small plot of beeches will be monitored annually. For centuries, the state’s beech trees have fed the animals of the wild world — squirrels, turkey, blue jays, woodpeckers, deer, and more. Its genus name “Fagus’’ comes from a Greek word, Fagito, meaning “to eat.”  The beech nut crops feed the animals that live in the woods. 

Bob Marra, in photo below, met with Greg Decker and Kris Lambert in the summer of 2020 to plan for a monitoring station in the Hills looking for the nematodes that cause the disease.