103 – Emerald Ash Borer

This is Not a Happy Episode

Fair warning this episode is depressing.  The Emerald Ash Borer is devastating the Ash forests all across North America.  My guest, Dr. Jeremy Slone from Bartlett Tree Experts, joins me to discuss the Emerald Ash Borer.  We discuss its impact on Ash as a lumber species and how to handle felled trees.  We talk about the current treatment for living trees and specifically how the EAB kills the tree.

Bugs are a clear and present danger to our forests.  This is not a new phenomena and history is full of blights from the American Chestnut to the Dutch Elm blight.  Today we face Powder Post beetles, Pine beetles, Beech Leaf disease, Thousand Canker, and of course the Emerald Ash Borer.  The sad news is the treatments are just a stop gap measure and long term solutions are not yet a reality.  So we continue to lose trees by the acre without a lot of hope for stemming the spread of infestation.

In particular pay attention to the care and handling of logs known to be infested with EAB in this episode.  This was eye opening to me and a lot of my criticism for wasting wood directed towards municipalities might be misplaced and misinformed.  

Another Tree Pest to know