Oak Wilt Monitoring In the Hill Country

The Hill Country and Central Texas areas have been hard hit by oak wilt. Oak wilt throughout the Hill Country has caught property owners off guard and is currently killing oaks at epidemic proportions. To date Tribemania has detected nine active hot spots specifically in Canyon Lake alone. The number of new detections in the Canyon Lake area is increasing on a regular basis.

THE OAK WILT WAS PRESENT BUT UNDETECED.

In many cases, oak wilt is present and spreading undetected for years before it is discovered. In fact, this is what happened in Startzville on the south side of the lake. The Comal County Texas A&M Extension Forest Service was first contacted in 2011. They visited the site on September 15, 2011 and were unable to make a positive read for oak wilt. They returned almost three years later and noticed that the oak wilt had spread and at that time they declared this area as an active oak wilt center.

Back to top

In the scenario above, our ongoing monitoring and detection service would have detected the oak wilt at least 3 years sooner. When it was finally determined to be an oak wilt center, the cost to trench and contain the spread pattern alone was in the $80k range. In these critical early formative stages, this community had no early detection, no ongoing monitoring, no cohesive mitigation efforts, no leadership, and no available funds to mitigate. Unfortunately, this hot spot is still active today with no end in sight.

Oak Wilt Center discovered very near the Mystic Shores Subdivision

 As early as September 2021, I discovered an active oak wilt center in the Mystic Shores area. It is over 500k square feet in size which is substantial. I reached out to a Comal County Texas A&M agent who inspected the area and confirmed it as an active oak wilt center. This infected area is detrimental to many oaks in Mystic Shores and surrounding areas.

Oak Wilt Monitoring Membership

Below are the four steps of what Tribemania’s Oak Wilt Monitoring Membership offers:

  • Basic Plan-Mapping In Your Property (Annual cost is $180.00)
    Your property is mapped into our live mapping system that will establish your property as a point of reference in relationship to any active hot spots that we are monitoring. A 500’ buffer zone is created around your property for monitoring purposes.

  • Optional-Annual Spring On Site Tree Inspection (Cost $250.00)
    Trees in your monitoring areas will be inspected annually for any signs of disease. Since beetles feed on infected red oaks and transmit the fungus to healthy trees in an annual fungus mat formation cycle, it is important that trees be inspected annually.

  • Optional-Preventive Line Of Defense (Cost Is A Per Bid Basis)

    We offer a shape and balance cut and a root inoculation that promotes health and hydration to the trees that is the first line of defense against a direct invasion of oak wilt.

  • Containment (Special Assessment Fund)

    Any activity near or within the 500’ buffer zone will trigger a containment effort using a fungicide inoculation technique supported by field results performed by Dan Wilson of the Federal Forest Research and Development Division.

    To sign up or to learn more about our monitoring membership use the “Contact us about membership” link.