Science & Outdoors
The Emerald ash borer
For Wisconsin, going green never looked so terrifying
The Pointer
jtowl695@uwsp.edu
The emerald ash borer is an enemy among us. An exotic species, the insect was first discovered in the Detroit area of Michigan roughly a decade ago and arrived in Wisconsin in August 2008.
The wood-boring beetle has since been referred to as the “green menace,” and five different locations throughout Wisconsin have acted as sites of infestation. The span of territory that has been subjected to destruction, which includes both rural and urban forests, indicates the seriousness of the threat they present, and gives rise to a growing political debate as well.
It is inevitable that emerald ash borers will continue to plague the native ash trees of Wisconsin. Ultimately, the means to the trees’ end is made possible by the larva stage as it feeds under the bark, destroying the tree’s abilities to transport water and nutrients. As the trees starve to death they attract more adult beetles, which are prolific breeders, thereby initiating a cascading series of events that ultimately diminishes the ability to contain this forest epidemic.
To survey the emerald ash borer population, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources places hundreds upon thousands of purple traps throughout the state on an annual basis. Though it is with good intentions that the DNR employs the use of such survey tools, in reality, only three “Darwin award winners of the emerald ash borer” have been trapped thus far, revealed chair of the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point urban forestry professor, Les Werner. It has proven ineffective in detecting new infestations.
Currently, there is no statewide solution that will bring an end to the spread and detrimental effects of the emerald ash borer.
Chemically, the trees can be treated on a preventative basis through the use of injections, much like an immunization. Unlike the immunizations received by humans, this type of precautionary method is not long withstanding. Injections given to ash trees would more than likely need to continue on a bi-annual basis in order to be an effective treatment.
Although prevention through injection is possible, it is neither practical nor economical. The cost of treating an individual tree is expensive and given the abundances of trees in Wisconsin forests, this type of prevention method would require funds that do not exist.
At the outset, the idea of quarantine, which prohibits the removal of ash wood from sites of infestation, seems a worthy endeavor. However, a lack of funds and regulatory personnel also eliminates this preventative method.
As a result, the state places the proposed on-the-ground management strategies in the hands of volunteer cooperation. All this considered, the politics of the situation emerge when presented with the private property owner who may not have the resources available to take necessary action against the insidious insect.
In some communities, ash trees constitute approximately 35% of trees in the city. The prospect of losing this percentage of canopy trees, and the benefits they provide, is alarming to say the least. The problem of a greater infestation has yet to be manifested, and as a result, one must consider the lag time between trees that will be lost and the amount of time needed to replace them.
A campaign began in Wisconsin in response to the increasing outbreaks of infested trees that encourages residents to refrain from transporting firewood. One of the more presumptuous and clever slogans reads, “If you move firewood, your ash is mine.” Efforts like these have surely raised some awareness of the issue, but the greater question remains; will the strictly volunteer army in this battle against the emerald ash borer be strong enough to save what’s left of ash trees in Wisconsin?
For Werner, “to say ‘we’ve got a handle on this’ doesn’t cut it.” Not only is there a deficiency of funds, but no force exists to regulate the actions that could potentially save what’s left of ash trees in Wisconsin. “It’s not a matter of if it gets to Stevens Point, but when,” said Werner.
Wisconsin has lost tens of thousands of ash trees to the emerald ash borer. At this point, early detection acts as the only remaining coping mechanism. It doesn’t take a forestry major to become actively involved with the search. By familiarizing oneself with the symptoms of an ash tree that’s been infected by the wood-boring beetle, future damage may be minimized.
Two major ways to identify an infected ash tree include canopy dieback, where the tree begins to die at the top one-third of the canopy until the tree is bare, and epicormic shoots or sprouts that grow from the roots and trunk and are characterized by larger than normal leaves.
The crisis caused by the emerald ash borer is on the verge of becoming unmanageable, but for the time being, all of Wisconsin is on the forefront of an aggressive search that could save the native ash.
