In the two seasons since detection of the Emerald Ash Borer in Boulder, experts have learned that it’s very difficult to find. The Colorado EAB Response Team, arborists, and foresters have been looking high and low throughout the Front Range, into tree canopies and on the ground at firewood, trying to find the destructive pest. For a time, the only place that bug was detected was in the city of Boulder.
But that changed last Monday, June 6, when Bodhi Tree Care
Arborist James Young saw the classic symptoms of the Green Menace: D-shaped exit holes and serpentine galleries
just under the bark on an ailing ash tree in Longmont. He also found one of the bugs half in, half
out of the ash, killed as it was emerging from the branch.
Young notified Ken Wicklund, City of Longmont Forester, who
went to inspect the tree. In the warmth
of the day, Emerald Ash Borer adults – half-inch long, metallic green beetles –
were flying around the tree. Wicklund
contacted the Colorado Department of Agriculture for confirmation
identification, which, sadly, was positive.
At the same time the insect was found in a new Colorado
community, our neighbors in Nebraska announced the first detection of the pest,
making their state the 26th to have the tree killer. The speed of the spread – to 26 states since
it’s detection in Michigan in 2002, killing hundreds of millions of ash – causes
any tree lover to weep in dismay.
As you ponder the decimation of a native North American
tree, consider also that complicit in this is humans. The insect arrived here because humans
brought it over from its native Asia. It
was by accident but, like opening Pandora’s Box, the damage was done.
The insect doesn’t naturally spread more than about
1-and-a-half miles per season; for it to leap across the Great Plains or even
across our county took humans, moving it in firewood, nursery stock, or shipping
pallets. Once infested wood arrived, the
insects ventured out into surrounding areas, attacking ash trees. By the time the bug is detected it can be
miles away from the original source of the infestation.
This is why Boulder County is quarantined; the EAB Response
team is trying to slow the spread. No
firewood or any ash wood can be taken out of the quarantine. It will take all of us to do this.
Owners of ash trees near or within the detection sites of
Boulder and Longmont should make a plan for what they want to do for their
ash. Protection with pesticides,
removal, or replacements with saplings of a different type of tree is a
personal decision each tree owner should weigh, because the Emerald Ash Borer
kills trees in a scant handful of years.
The Boulder County EAB webpage offers information on all aspects of what
you need to consider (bouldercounty.org/property/forest/pages/eab.aspx).
To aid in your decision, the Colorado State Forest Service
has a Decision Guide that walks you through the process
(bouldercounty.org/doc/parks/eab-decision-guide.pdf). Be sure to assess the health of the ash when
considering protecting it; not all trees are healthy enough to save.
For the most accurate tree health assessment, hire a
pro. Certified Arborists are trained to
look for symptoms of EAB and many other pests, be they insects, disease, or
environmental problems. They can climb
the tree to take a close look at it.
Find a Certified Arborist through the International Society of
Arboriculture (ISA) or look for an accredited company by the Tree Care Industry
Association (TCIA).
And don’t move firewood or ash wood around. This will help slow the spread of the Emerald
Ash Borer.
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