PROGRESSION OF THE DOGWOOD ANTHRACNOSE EPIDEMIC AND THE STATUS OF FLOWERING DOGWOOD IN CATOCTIN-MOUNTAIN-PARK

A dogwood anthracnose impact survey was conducted at Catoctin Mountain Park in the Maryland Blue Ridge Mountains in 1994. The survey was per formed 10 years after an initial survey to determine the status of the epidemic. Prior to the epidemic, approximately 1,013 flowering dogwoo d stems per hectare were present in dogwood anthracnose impact plots e stablished in areas where dogwoods were prevalent. After just over 10 years only 56 stems per ha remained, a 94% loss. To assess the impact of dogwood anthracnose throughout the entire park, an estimate of the flowering dogwood population derived from a park-wide vegetation surve y conducted in 1990 and 1992 was compared with an estimate made from a 1976 vegetation survey. Throughout the park there was a 77% reduction , from 128 stems per ha in 1976 to an average of 29 stems per ha in 19 90 and 1992. A 1994 roadside survey found that although flowering dogw oods were prevalent along the forest edge, seed set was sparse and the re was little regeneration. It is feared that heavy seedling predation by white-tailed deer will impede natural reproduction and deliberate attempts to augment the dogwood population.