Forest Pest Conference Set for Nov. 30 – Dec. 2 in Knoxville

Thousand Cankers Disease and Emerald Ash Borer in the Eastern U.S.

NASHVILLE – A conference on Thousand Cankers Disease and Emerald Ash Borer in the eastern United States will be held Nov. 30 – Dec. 2 at the University of Tennessee’s Hollingsworth Auditorium in Knoxville.

The conference is open to natural resource professionals, researchers, municipal leaders, arborists, landowners and others interested in discussing future implications of these threats to our eastern forests. The conference will report on the current status of these forest pests since they were first discovered in Tennessee in 2010, and will showcase response activities, research findings, control measures and lessons learned.

Thousand Cankers Disease and Emerald Ash Borer represent two highly invasive and significant threats to Tennessee's forests. Their discoveries in the state marked the advancement of the Emerald Ash Borer into the southeastern U.S. and the arrival of Thousand Cankers Disease to black walnut's native range.

Registration is $60 for all three days of the conference, including lunch and a parking pass, or $30 for only one day. The conference is hosted by the University of Tennessee Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

Complete conference information including a full agenda and online registration can be found at the new Tennessee Forest Health website: http://protecttnforests.org/.