By Elizabeth Lowe
Staff writer
Brandon Twp. — If James McRay could stress only one point about ash trees infested with the Emerald Ash Borer, it would be “don’t move firewood.”
“Probably the biggest problem is people not understanding the provisions of the quarantine,” said McRay, communications specialist for the Michigan Department of Agriculture, referring to the Oakland, Genesee, and Lapeer County quarantine on moving logs, branches or timber with bark that is larger than one-inch in diameter.
The misconception prevails that one can move firewood within a quarantined area, but “it’s illegal to take firewood from Oakland County to Lapeer County,” McRay said.
Chipping the wood to pieces smaller than one-inch in diameter means the wood can be visually inspected for the presence of EAB larvae, which tunnel under the bark of affected ash trees.
In southeastern Michigan, nearly six million ash are now dead or dying after being infested with the insect, says McRay, and the numbers are steadily increasing.
“We expect that number to potentially double,” he said. “When all is said and done we have no idea how many ash trees will be affected.”
All varieties except Mountain Ash are susceptible to the EAB, said McRay.
Ash grows naturally in Michigan’s forests and woodlots, and has been used widely as a landscape planting, especially near streets and parking lots due to its hardy nature. Approximately five to 10 percent of Michigan’s 700 million trees are estimated to be ash.
The Emerald Ash Borer, which grows to a length of only three-eighths to one-half inch, has already cost the United States as much as $60 billion, McRay said. Michigan’s nursery industry alone has so far suffered a $30 million loss.
“We were not allowed to sell the (ash) we had,” said Joe Wojciechowski, owner of Wojo’s Greenhouse in Ortonville. Although the greenhouse has been inspected several times without any evidence of EAB, Wojo’s took the cautious route and destroyed the ash the nursery had.
“We cut our losses while we could,” said Wojciechowski, who estimates the loss at $5,000 to $10,000.
Most infested ash trees must be destroyed. Don’t be afraid to use them as firewood, as long as you don’t move them, says McRay.
If the tree is not yet infested or is in an early stage of infestation, it may possibly be saved.
“The tree may have sentimental value, maybe it was planted a long time ago by great, great-grandpa,” said McRay, who cautioned tree-owners that pesticide treatment must be professionally applied.
EAB eradication requires a long-term commitment to saving the tree.
“You can treat a tree for 11 years and have it become infested in the 12th year,” he said.