EAB Killed Ash - Acceptable Transport Distance?

[lxskllr]

My oak tree project will be finished this year or next, and I'm gonna miss the work. I'm thinking about starting cleanup of the boss' farm, and a way to get rid of the wood would be selling ricks in front of the office, or his house. Maybe tiered pricing depending on species. The premium wood I noticed is ash, but the problem is it's been killed by EAB. Would it be responsible to move that wood to other locations? It likely wouldn't leave a 10 mile radius from the office, but of course there's no way to guarantee that. Once it's out of my control, it could go anywhere.

I guess I'm asking what the ethical decision is. Is EAB just here now, and it doesn't matter, or can it be effectively quarantined?

[maple flats]

In New York the law is 50 mile max from the harvest location unless it has been heat treated. That is for firewood, but logs and lumber are likely the same.

[T-Rex]

In Minnesota, everywhere the EAB is known to be is quarantined.  That means in can not be moved out of quarantined area, without heat treatment.  The actual geographical area is precisely mapped out and available on the state website.  Check with your state or county.  They can probably give you a legal if not ethical range.

[Wudman]

The wood can not move outside of the quarantine area without being treated.  Ash in Southern Virginia was wiped out by contaminated firewood coming into Staunton  River State Park.  You could follow the migration from ground zero through the river system.  It did not take very long for the insect to spread.  Once it had been identified, it was too late.

Wudman

[Southside]

When did the firewood arrive?

[Wudman]

The quarantine went into effect in June of 2012 after the local extension forester and an industry forester noticed trees dying along the river while fishing.  They contacted the state entomologist that confirmed their suspicion.  The borer had probably been there for 2-3 years prior to the trees checking out.  EAB was first identified in the state in 2003 in nursery stock transported into Fairfax County.  It was thought that the population was eradicated.  The EAB reappeared in Fairfax in 2008.  That was probably about the time that it was introduced in Southern Virginia as well.  Early trapping studies showed the Staunton River State Park as ground zero.  The EAB walked up the river and its tributaries.  Every ash in my neighborhood was dead about 4 years ago.  There is one majestic tree in the Town of Charlotte Court House.  I gave the owner some literature on EAB right after the pest was identified in the county.  He had been treating the tree systemically up until his death.  I noticed last year that the top was starting to thin.  I'm afraid it is on its way out.

Wudman

[Southside]

What do you think are the odds that stumps that sprout will be able to survive?  I had a couple killed on our own place that I intentionally cut high as they were trying to sprout new growth, figured I would give them a chance.  

[Wudman]

I don't know about survival of the stump sprouts.  The trees around my yard sprouted, so there is some hope.  They are waist high now.  I don't know how big a stem will get before it is attractive to the EAB.  I know I had some 4 inch DBH poles that they took out. As fast as the EAB has moved, I am not optimistic.  One my Dad's farm, they found the only two ash trees that I knew about.  One was about 36" DBH and the other about 6" DBH.     

I know I had a Chestnut near me that was taken out by blight before I was born.  That stump sprouted year after year during my childhood and on up until I was in my teens.  Sometimes the sprouts would make it to 10-12 feet tall before succumbing to the blight and the process would start over.

I don't know how the ash resist the EAB in its native habitat.  I'll have to do some research on that.  I'd be interest to see how the system works.

Wudman 

[Southside]

Somewhere I have a photo of an EAB that I found in a pine, took it a few years ago, I will have to find that and post it.  I suspect at times they may have a more diverse appetite than we realize.  

[Al_Smith]

On the EAB killed ash if you dropped the tree before the stump dies they will resprout .I've got some second growths that leaf out ,look healthy and are about 15 feet high in maybe 8-10 years .They might reseed or they might not .In addition the unstory has sprouted ash by the hundreds because the sunlight can penetrate.Even with that if they survive it will be a hundred years before any of those 90-100 footers will ever be seen again .

[GullyBog]

I was at a forest health conference last month.  One of the most interesting presentations was a study from Ohio on an area that EAB had been through.  2.6% of the trees survived, some were just lucky and had been missed by EAB.  The light at the end of the tunnel is that 1% weren't just lucky and are resistant.  The researcher proved this by grafting shoots of these trees onto potted rootstock and deliberately infesting them with EAB.  The larvae died inside the stems of the grafted trees.  Ash may recover, they can pollinate themselves and make a lot of seeds that distribute well and aren't a desirable food to critters.

[Old Greenhorn]

THAT is the best news I have heard in 15 years! How can we get our hands and some of these resistant seedlings? Ash in the Catskills is a 'cash crop' we have lost, we need to get it re-started for our coming generations.
 Thank you for this post! Are there any places we can go to read more about this?

[GullyBog]

I don't know about getting seedlings from the gubmint, probably better to DIY.  Below is a citation of an article on the grafted trees that resist EAB

Koch, J.L.; Carey, D.W.; Mason, M.E.; Poland, T.M.; Knight, K.S. 2015. Intraspecific variation in Fraxinus pennsylvanica responses to emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis). New Forests. 46(5-6): 995-1011. Intraspecific variation in Fraxinus pennsylvanica responses to emerald ash borer ( Agrilus planipennis) | SpringerLink.

and another on the few ash that have survived EAB

Knight, Kathleen S. 2014. Outlook for ash in your forest: results of emerald ash borer research and implications for management. Indiana Woodland Steward. 23(1): 3,7.

There is already a breeding program underway.  I'm going slow with the ash salvage where my Pops lives.  The landlady said to cut anything but I'm only cutting what has definitely declined.  I don't play the lottery so this will be my way of taking a long shot. :D