ASH TREES Are Rapidly Dying

[LP]

I've known about the Green Ash borer problem for some time but just recently saw a local program about it on PBS. The following is done from memory and may not be totally accurate, but the gist of the program was this:

START: In the summer of 2003, some six million Ash trees were dead or dying because of the Green Ash Borer. At the time, this insect was confined to five or six counties in S.E. Michigan. It is suspected that it entered the U.S. by way of packing materials or dunnage from somewhere in the Orient.

Today, a year later, the borer has spread to Ontario, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. This rapid spread is attributed almost entirely to the transportation of infected logs and firewood by people. On it's own, the borer would only spread about a mile a year.

The borer kills by chewing thru the cambium layer, all around the tree. Once this happens, the tree is no longer able to uptake water and nutrients and its death is swift and certain. The number of infected trees is now in the tens of millions, and at the current rate of spread, the entire U.S. supply of Ash will be gone in a few years.

In Michigan, the trees are being cut, chipped up and burned. As you can guess, this is a long & laborious process, is wasteful of a beautiful natural product, and is having little effect because of the aforementioned human transport problem.

Slabbing off the outer portions of the log and burning only that, while preserving the inner, uninfected portion of the wood is a viable alternative except that there are so many trees and so few (relative) sawmills. END:

Personal note. Ash is a beautiful wood which can be finished in a variety of ways. My favorite is filler, analine dye and lacquer. Small knot areas will yield an irridescence which is spectacular.

Please make everyone you know aware of this insect problem. It would be quite shameful to lose so beautiful a natural resource when the means to prevent it are so easy. Don't take firewood with you on that camping trip, and dont transport any logs out of the infected area.

[Joseph Smith]

[Mark & Juanita]

... snip

Yep, and it smells good too.

Are there any more agressive means of dealing with the borers (i.e. like, gasp, pesticides)?

[LP]

Glad you asked :)

Yes, there is a pesticide. But here enter the environmentalists.

The most effective method is aerial spray, which most communities will not allow for a variety of reasons/excuses. The environment people have raised the health risk/benefit flag on this one. I have no info as to what the health risk to humans might be.

A second method is injection, where a series of holes is bored around the base of the trunk and the insecticide is injected directly into the cambium layer.

The third method is a granular material which is sprinkled on the ground near the base of the tree, from whence the tree takes it in and passes it on to the borer.

The insecticide is highly effective, but delivery remains a problem. Method one is subject to all sorts of criticisms. Methods two and three are ok for a homeowner who has only a few trees, but are not suitable for 10's of millions of trees scattered across 100's of millions of acres. And, to a lesser degree than the aerial method, the environmentalists are against these methods also.

The only action/interest that I've seen so far comes from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. This is not to say that other states, and the Federal people, aren't involved; only that i've seen no info on said involvement.

[LP]

I wasn't aware of the spread, and its very disappointing.

"Every tool in the shop will become a dust collector at one time or another"

[Frank McVey]

In the UK, we lost most of the Elm population (some 20 million trees) to Dutch Elm disease in the '70s. I recently saw a stand of elms which had obviously escaped the epidemic. I later found out that this guy had been injecting the trees by the holes all round method you describe and had saved his trees.

We are currently undergoing an infection of Sooty Bark Disease in sycamores, a fungal disease. I hope that landowners have more success in eradicating that than they did Dutch Elm.

Cheers

Frank

[George]

See _Voyage of The Beagle_ and _Origin of Species_ for evidence of past "invasions."

Rest assured, there is a predator out there somewhere building its numbers to take advantage of a new food source.

[CW]

Do they have a pesticide that is effective against environmentalists?

[nospambob]

[Australopithecus scobis]

[George]

A sacred cow threatened.

Attack some _other_ religion, CW.

"Pull your head out of your ass."

[Wally Goffeney]

Living in the middle of the Emerald Ash Borer infestation, I have a somewhat different slant on the effectiveness of proposed treatments. From what I've read, there are no proven, effective treatments. There have been proposed treatments, but the borer problem is so new, roughly two years, that the efficacy of any PRACTICAL treatment is unknown.

I am definitely not a tree hugger, but I don't think that "But here enter the environmentalists" is a useful characterization of the situation. I have seen no mention of an effective insecticide that could be applied by spraying. There may be one, but it has not yet been proven.

The effectiveness of treatments for individual trees is far from certain. What is certain is that it is expensive and laborious. If you're trying to save one or two trees, it may be practical. A woods would be difficult or impossible.

This is a horrendous problem here is Southeast Michigan. If there was a practical, effective and relatively safe, proven method of control available, we would be using it,with or without the approval of your so-called environmentalists.

For more authoritative information see::

[Michael Daly]

Given any situation, there are lots of folks who automatically blame the "environmentalists". Easier than admitting that they don't know what they're talking about.

Mike

[Charlie Self]

Michael Daly responds:

Anyone who has small children, or grandchildren, had better hope that "environmentalists" start reproducing at a fairly rapid rate or the life style of the coming generations is going to be meager compared to ours.

Charlie Self "America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own." John Quincy Adams

[Michael Daly]

I know lots of folks with kids and grandkids who don't give a damn about their futures. Not only do they complain about environmentalists, they vote for tax cuts and increased and unmanageable government debts.

Mike

[Charlie Self]

Michael Daly responds:

Hell, I'm related to a couple.

Charlie Self "America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own." John Quincy Adams

[Old Nick]

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 09:01:19 -0400, "George" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Give over!

And God's in his heaven and all's right with the world?

Australia. Rabbits. Cane toads (_Introduced_ to solve another pest!) Jarrah dieback (not animal admittedly)

oh yeah...people....

***************************************************** I know I am wrong about just about everything. So I am not going to listen when I am told I am wrong about the things I know I am right about.

[George]

Anthromorphism. Look it up.

[Ed Clarke]

Is this something new coming along? I live in New York, about 30 miles north of the NYC limits and ALL the ash trees have been dead for several years. I'd heard that it was some kind of insect, but don't know the details. In any case, you can see lots of dead ash trees along the Taconic parkway (at least).

I can see eight dead ash trees in my back yard. I've painted an orange ring around the trunk on most of them so that I can cut them down this winter. They've started falling down by themselves - and a fifty or sixty foot tall tree can do a hell of a lot of damage to a kid cutting through the woods if it falls on him/her.

I just hope the Asian Long Horned Beetle stays on Long Island and doesn't make it up here. The preferred host trees are the poplar and the maple. There is no treatment after the tree is infected. Preventative treatment is by injection with Imidacloprid. I don't know what this will do to the maple syrup industry; that fake crap tastes awful. Takes only two years to kill a 200 year old tree.

And then there's "Sudden Oak Death" caused by Phytophthora ramorum. This lovely disease kills tanoak, coast live oak, black oak, bigleaf maple, bay laurel, myrtle, honeysuckle etc. ad nauseum.

[Bob Martin]

If you can - there is no such word.

Do you mean anthropomorphism ?