Our neighborhood organization has been doing urban reforestation for the past few years to replace the many very old Modesto Ash that are dying. They planted a red maple as a street tree in my yard three years ago. We've followed the Tree Foundation instructions on its care since the first day.

Each Spring, the tree leafs out normally. But in a very short time, all the leaves on the outermost tips of the branches turn yellow and brown and drop, and the branch tips die off. The tree seems to be normal throughout the year, except that as new branches form, the same thing happen to every branch tip each Spring.

This summer, we found something on several of the dead tips. It looks like the bleached remains of a worm or caterpillar. Can you help me identify what it is, and how to stop it from defoliating our young tree each year when it leafs out?

I apologize for the blurry parts on the picture, but I put the thing on my scanner and that's as good as I could get. I hope it's enough for someone to know what it is.

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