With spring starting, there is unfortunately some bad news for Brooklyn oak trees: a fast-moving and deadly fungal disease that afflicts oak trees has been identified in Green-Wood Cemetery. It's Oak Wilt and can kill an oak tree within a couple of months of infection. The Red Oak group (whose leaves have lobes with pointy tips) are especially vulnerable.

We can help prevent a serious outbreak of this disease, which could affect thousands of oak trees we have around the City.

If you see oak trees suddenly loosing leaves this spring and early summer, please contact the state Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Health Hotline at 866-640-0652.

Basic info and photos to help identify Oak Wilt are available here.

More information is available from  the USDA.

Thank you to our friends at Prospect Heights Community Farm for this important alert. Please pass this information along to your friends and contacts. The more people who are aware of the situation and can report an ill oak tree to the Hotline, the more likely it is that we can nip this killer in the bud.