Emerald Ash Borer

[cutterboy]

Emerald Ash Borer, how far East has it caused damage?
I live in North central Massachusetts which is close to the center of New England and there are a lot of ash trees on my farm. Quite a few are good sized timber and many many are firewood sized and all are in good health. My concern is how long will the trees stay healthy.
When EAB moves into an area do they kill every ash or do they cause damage to some and let the others live?
Once they are spotted in an area how long before the trees start dying?
Is there any area in New England that has been infected badly enough that the trees are dying?

I do love the ash tree. Ash is my favorite firewood and makes beautiful lumber. The largest tree on the farm is an Ash. It will break my heart to see them all die off.

[Old Greenhorn]

HERE is a good info page for you. Looks like they are all around you. If you have some special ones, you could try the stump inoculations, but that can get pricey over time. NYS is using the parasitic wasps that eat these little suckers and anecdotal reports indicate some good success. But here in NY we are so far behind the curve it is nearly too late.

 I wish you luck, but they are everywhere around the northeast. They will take all the healthy trees once they hit an area. They kill every tree they infest. Just because you don't see the yellow bark doesn't mean they aren't there. Examine carefully the tree bark and look for D shaped 1/8" holes. Yeah, that's a small hole and hard to see without a careful look.

 Good luck. My favorite firewood also.

[beenthere]

Cutterboy
My experience, two years ago; no evidence of the ash borer. Within two years; evidence seen on 90% of all the ash.

I've been managing the white ash on this property for the last 50 years. Removing competition, crooked stemmed ash from ice storm 45 years ago, and favoring a good stand of ash among the other hardwoods of walnut, white oak, red oak and soft maple. About 40% ash (only white) in the hardwood stand. 

But consensus is that the ash borer is present and working on the trees 3-6 years before there is evidence of dead top branches and then the tell-tale scaling bark. 

Today, not one healthy ash larger than 5" dbh visible. 
Unhealthy trees range down to 2" diameter. 

But still there is a healthy regeneration of saplings and seedlings sprouting up everywhere. Whether they survive, remains to be seen but I have my doubts.

[WDH]

One tiny ray of hope is ash seeds stay viable in the litter layer a long time waiting for disturbance to give them a chance.  Hopefully they can out-wait the worst of the EAB and be a seed source for a new generation.  But, it is a tiny ray of hope.