The Emerald Ash Borer is destroying hundreds of thousands of ash trees in Southeast Michigan and in nearby Ontario. The Asian insect likely made its way to North America in wood packing materials. (Photo courtesy of David Cappaert, Michigan State University)
Ash has become an extremely popular tree to plant along streets in the United States. It’s being used in many cases as a replacement for the American Elm. Stately Elm trees lined streets for more than a century in many towns. But that’s changed since the 1930’s when Dutch Elm Disease wiped out millions of Elms throughout the country. Now the Elm’s replacement, the Ash, is facing a similar fate from a new tree killer, the Emerald Ash Borer. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
Transcript
Ash has become an extremely popular tree to plant along streets
in the United States. It’s being used in many cases as a
replacement for the American Elm. Stately Elm trees lined
streets for more than a century in many towns. But that’s
changed since the 1930s when Dutch Elm Disease wiped out millions
of Elms throughout the country. Now the Elm’s replacement, the
Ash, is facing a similar fate from a new tree killer, the
Emerald Ash Borer. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Erin Toner reports:
In Michigan, a grounds crew is surveying dozens of trees spray-
painted with big, orange X’s. The trees are dead or dying because
of disease. They’ll get chopped down, chipped up and hauled away.
(sound of chainsaw)
At Michigan State University, the campus loses about 100 trees every year.
And officials here see that as a big blow to the university’s appeal.
So campus leaders are especially worried about the potential devastation
caused by a little metallic green beetle.
The Emerald Ash Borer is eating its way through trees in the upper
Midwest. Deb McCullough is a professor of entomology at Michigan State.
She’s part of a team of federal, state and local officials working on the
Emerald Ash Borer problem.
“It’s like a tidal wave, I mean there’s just so many of these beetles and Ash is
everywhere. Once you start looking for it, and you notice it. It’s the tree
that’s along roadsides, it’s along railroad rights of ways, it’s in woodlots.
It’s amazing how dominant Ash has become.”
So dominant, that Emerald Ash Borers have plenty to chew on. They’ve already
killed or are killing five-and-a-half million ash trees in the Great Lakes region.
McCullough says by next summer, that number will double, to nearly 11
million dead ash trees.
“Local communities are basically spending their entire forestry and
street-tree budgets on cutting down and destroying Ash right now. That
means no money is going into planting and pruning or the kinds of activities
that they would normally be doing. Other communities don’t have those kinds of
resources and they’re just watching their Ash trees die.”
(sound of wood chipper)
The Emerald Ash Borer was first discovered in the United States about five years
ago. Researchers say it probably came here with wood used to pack imported goods from
Asia. That’s the way many invasive pests have been transported to the U.S.
Frank Telewski is a plant biology professor at Michigan State. He says so far,
researchers have not found any Ash varieties that are resistant to the Emerald Ash Borer.
And right now there is no insecticide proven to kill the beetles.
“When an organism is introduced to a brand new environment where the trees
haven’t been evolving with the disease or with the insect pest, then that
organism just has a free reign, it’s dinnertime.”
There’s currently a quarantine around the infested areas. That means no one can
transport any ash trees, lumber or firewood outside several counties in Michigan, Ohio
and Ontario, Canada.
Entomologist Deb McCullough says the quarantine alone won’t stop the Emerald
Ash Borer from spreading to new states. It’ll take money – a lot of it – to
pay for a plan to stop the beetle. McCullough says a long-term plan to wipe
out the disease would likely cost more than 60 million dollars. And she says time
is wasting. The adult beetles start emerging in a few months, ready to lay
eggs in new trees.
“This is not just a Michigan problem. I mean, everybody’s got Ash. If
we don’t stop it here, Ohio is going to be the next one, Indiana, Wisconsin.
This thing will certainly spread and they’re going to be dealing with the
same situation.”
State and federal governments have put together an Emerald Ash Borer
eradication plan. It includes surveys to see if the disease has spread,
methods to manage the existing outbreak, and telling people about the problem.
But right now, there’s no guaranteed funding for the plan. Anna Cherry is
with the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
“Whenever there are situations like this, there’s always discussion about
whether or not it’s appropriate or necessary to seek emergency funding,
there’s questions about what’s available in local and state governments.
You know, it’s always a mix of resources and you can’t rule one out or count on
one at this particular point in time.”
Michigan’s governor and the state’s Congressional delegation are working to get
federal money for the fight to stop the Emerald Ash Borer.
(sound of chainsaw)
Without some money soon, cities in the Midwest will likely be cutting down
millions more dead ash trees in coming years.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Erin Toner.