Emerald Ash Borer quarantine, London, Ontario.

[Art Mulder]

I got my quarantine notice in the mail today from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

This was on the news last week, so I was expecting it. Here in Canada they are very worried about the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer. In London they found two trees that were infested (won't say where they are) and as a result have quarantined a circle of London 5km in diameter.

Some noteworthy quotes from my notice:

"...prohibits the movement of any ash trees, ash tree materials or firewood of any species from your property."

"...including but not restricted to, logs, branches, chips; and firewood of all species."

"...commencing on the date herof and ending on (date) March 31, 2008"

There is no mention of lumber or kiln-dried wood, but the phrase "but not restricted to" is pretty wide open. From the brochures it seems that logs with the bark attached would be the main worry, since they seem to stay under the bark.

My understanding is that this is coming here from the states. (Here in Ontario I think it was first spotted in Windsor) So I'm just curious what has been happening on that side of the border. Are their quarantie or purging methods being used?

...art

[Kyle Kraft]

Art,
Being from Michigan, I hear about the EAB (Emarald Ash Borer, for the acronym crowd) all the time. We are under a rather strict ban on moving firewood. There is an amnesty station in the UP (Upper Peninsula) after the bridge so you can drop off or have your firewood inspected. Processed lumber products seem to pass muster, but "natural" firewood is confiscated. There was an article in the paper a while back where someone got busted trying to hide firewood in their RV (Recreational Vehicle). They arrested the guy and slapped him with a hefty fine.

As far as processed, KD (Kiln Dried) wood is concerned, I am not aware of any transportation restrictions.

Generally, the "authorities" solution is to cut every ash tree and chip it. This seems to be a terrible waste of lumber to me, as the sapwood is the home of the offending insect. Seems to me that a resourceful fellow could get a debarker on steroids to machine off the sapwood layer for disposal or incineration, then mill the remaining log into useable lumber.

[Matt Meiser]

Pretty much sounds like what has been happening here. They fly a few miles so it wouldn't be suprise me that it started in Windsor or Sarnia since we are only separated by a few hundred yards. Here the lumber can be used if the sawyer is certified by the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality or Department of Natural Resources (can't remember which.) Many areas have tried removing every Ash tree within a several mile radius of an infestation, but that doesn't seem to be helping. There was talk about trying to keep it from spreading out of northern Ohio and Indiana by cutting all of the ash trees in a 20 mile swath from Lake Michigan to Lake Erie but I think someone realized what a pointless and expensive idea that would be.

[scott spencer]

That's too close to home Art! ...and I think ash is beautiful and under utilized. Let's just hope it doesn't go the way of chestnut and elm.... :(

[Art Mulder]

Let's just hope it doesn't go the way of chestnut and elm.... :(

I lived in Edmonton, Alberta for 7 years from 1992-1998. Edmonton had a large (thousands) amount of elm trees that had been planted as boulevard trees in previuos decades. Edmonton is pretty northern, actually north of the natural range of elms. But because of the cities microclimate (warmer than the surrounding area) the elms were surviving. So they were hoping to escape the dutch elm disease, since they were essentially an "island" of elm.

[David G Baker]

I lived in Edmonton, Alberta for 7 years from 1992-1998. Edmonton had a large (thousands) amount of elm trees that had been planted as boulevard trees in previuos decades. Edmonton is pretty northern, actually north of the natural range of elms. But because of the cities microclimate (warmer than the surrounding area) the elms were surviving. So they were hoping to escape the dutch elm disease, since they were essentially an "island" of elm.
Art,
I live in Mid Michigan and have lost all but two out of around 20 Elm trees to Dutch Elm Disease. I also lost a bunch of Red Pine to bark beetle. I sold 48 Red Pine trees to a mill for about $10 each before they all died and became a hazard. I reported the bark beetle but the DNR didn't seem interested.
David B

[John Daugherty]

About 6 or 7 years ago in about a 50-mile radius of where I live we had a really bad outbreak of the southern pine beetle. I was talking to the local forestry guy and he told me he knew a woman that lost 250,000 dollars in standing timber do to the beetle. It was so bad you couldn’t give standing pines away. Bowater and a couple other pulp producers clear-cut several thousand acres of yellow pine. It was a boom for the tree services around here however!

[Karl Laustrup]

Here's some articles from the Wisconsin State Journal. These are recent, but I seem to remember one from a month or so ago that talked about it also. Couldn't find it, but as I recall it covered pretty much the same stuff. One of the articles gave an estimated count of ash trees in the state and I was surprised by the number. Seems it was around 14 million. Woops! Just went back and read the article. Wisconsin has 700 million ash trees. Now that's a scary thought, that all those trees could be gone.

http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2006/12/17/0612180373.php

http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2006/12/15/0612150326.php

http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2006/11/26/0611250244.php

Karl

[Russ Massery]

Same here, Northwest Indiana, And all of Illinois. The band when in effect over the summer.

[John Timberlake]

In Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) Ohio, there is a ban on moving ash firewood and logs. Don't think it covers lumber at all. Emerald borers not here yet, but trying to stop them. Probably won't work.

[Mike Monroe]

The state forester is recommending against the planting of any ash trees. The thinking is that it's only a matter of time before EAB shows up in Iowa. So don't waste time, effort, and money planting ash trees. The local forester I talked to thought EAB will kind of be like Dutch Elm disease was, just not as fast. EAB will impact Iowa significantly, as a lot of ash trees were planted when the elms died out.

[Alfred Clem]

What goes around comes around. I grew up in a Chicago suburb, Oak Park, known for its huge elm trees whose crowns touched and turned streets into tunnels of green in summer. They all died in the l950s. The town looked so different with all those giant trees gone -- almost looked naked and forlorn.

Time passed. New trees were planted. Today, whenever we return to Oak Park, it is almost like returning to our memories of the 1930s. Huge elms (or whatever) line the streets. Those green tunnels have returned. But one thing is missing. The smell of burning leaves in October. Too bad. That odor is gone, the air is cleaner, but the memories persist.