Progression of the Dogwood Anthracnose Epidemic and the Status of Flowering Dogwood in Catoetin Mountain Park. J. L. Sherald, Center for Urban Ecology, National Park Service, USDI, 4598 MacArthur Boulevard, NW, Washington, DC 20007-4227. T. M. Stidham, J. M. Hadidian, and J. E. Hoeldtke, Center for Urban Ecology, National Park Service, USDI, 4598 MacArthur Boulevard, NW, Washington, DC 20007-4227. Plant Dis 80:310. Accepted for publication 14 November 1995. This article is in the public domain and not copy-rightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1996. DOI: 10.1094/PD-80-0310.

A dogwood anthracnose impact survey was conducted at Catoetin Mountain Park in the Maryland Blue Ridge Mountains in 1994. The survey was performed 10 years after an initial survey to determine the status of the epidemic. Prior to the epidemic, approximately 1,013 flowering dogwood stems per hectare were present in dogwood anthracnose impact plots established 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 survey 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 1990 and 1992. A 1994 roadside survey found that although flowering dogwoods were prevalent along the forest edge, seed set was sparse and there 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