Insect could eliminate ash in North America

By Kurt Rentmeester
Kewaunee County News

The emerald ash borer is likely to win a nationwide battle against foresters and nursery operators in the effort to save native ash trees.

Their insidious attack — the emerald ash borer flies 1½ to 2 miles annually — will give people the impression they can be controlled. And they can be — for a while.

Chuck Wagner, a town of Red River property owner who has acreage in Kewaunee and Door counties, said these tiny emerald beetles with violet wings will destroy Wisconsin's native ash. A few can and will be saved with constant insecticide treatments.

He owns a particularly high percentage of ash trees in a stand in the town of Forestville that probably can't be saved.

Discovering the emerald ash borer

After a mature emerald ash borer was discovered last summer in a trap on an ash in downtown Green Bay, Wagner said he realized the bug could be anywhere within 15 miles of the city of Green Bay.

Being vigilant after the insect's discovery in Green Bay, Wagner alerted a state Department of Natural Resources staffer about a couple infestations that turned out to be diseased trees.

But the emerald ash borer now has been discovered in a few separate locations in Wisconsin, according to Bill McNee, an DNR entomologist in Green Bay.

In addition to their discovery in Green Bay, the bug was discovered on a single tree in Kenosha County. Infestations also were discovered near the community of Newberg in Washington County and the community of Victory near LaCrosse.

"One of the surprises is the one in Victory and the one in Newburg were in small communities, where you wouldn't expect to find it," McNee said. "We were surprised when it was found in those tiny communities.

Cost to timber owners

The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection estimates it could cost $160 to remove each mature ash tree, Wagner said.

In addition to the cost of tree removal, staff must grind up stumps and plant new trees, such as oak, maple and linden.

While people can keep their trees alive after the emerald ash borer has struck, McNee questions whether it is worth the cost, particularly for woodlot owners.

They should talk to their forester on what to do about the problem.

Insecticides and herbicides can be applied. But there are no guarantees they will work 100 percent of the time for every tree, Wagner said.

"You can keep the trees alive. But it will require insecticide treatments every year," McNee said. "A 10- or 12-year-old ash tree is worth $15. So woodlot owners could remove their ash. If the ash borer has not been found, yet, it may be premature to remove the ash."

While homeowners may be able to afford to keep a tree or two in their yards alive, the cost can be astronomical for owners of tree stands.

"It usually takes a while to find out where the beetle came from," McNee said. "It could have blown off a truck. It could have come from firewood. We want to know we definitely have an infestation."

The deforestation of ash from Wisconsin forests could have a devastating impact. As much as 90 percent of some wooded areas are composed of ash, Wagner said.

When a tree dies and sunlight enters those areas, he is concerned about the aftereffect — the arrival of invasive species such as phragmites, buckthorn and garlic mustard.

Addressing infestations

Last summer, the state Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection staff placed violet-colored traps on a handful of trees in the county, said University of Wisconsin Kewaunee County Agricultural Agent Aerica Opatik.

Owners of wood lots are being asked to trim the ash component of their stands to 10 percent of the total number of trees.

Kim Miller, an entomologist with the state Department of Natural Resources in Green Bay, recommends trees be monitored within 15 miles of where the bug was discovered in Green Bay, Wagner said.

"We do have ash trees within a 15-mile radius of where they found the bug (in Brown County)," Wagner said.

At this point, no other trees have been found with the emerald ash borer. But the bug could fly as far as two miles from where the infestation was found.

Wagner said the county may need to be willing to help cover the cost to address the situation in Northeastern Wisconsin.

But he expects reports also will come next year from Door, Manitowoc and other counties to be reporting the problem.

"The first question is 'What sort of scope of a project we're looking at?'" Wagner asked. "There are too many unknowns for us to make a decision right now."

Planning ahead

Samples of emerald ash borers and larvae can be seen at the University of Wisconsin-Extension office in Kewaunee.

"There is a lot of misconception," Opatik said. "Some say it's the green beetle. But it's really a different kind of beetle."

The site www.emeraldashborer.wi.gov has information about what homeowners and business operators can do to deal with the situation.

Wagner and Kewaunee County Board Chairman Bob Weidner want the county to look at how large a project the emerald ash borer can be. Sales of waste wood should be part of the study, Weidner said.

The wood from infected ash still can be harvested. That wood could be used for fuel at the Pulliam Plant in Green Bay. That already has happened in Detroit, but can be expensive for utilities, Wagner said.

Are communities prepared? The city of Sheboygan, for example, hired a part-time technician last summer to do an inventory of all ash trees in the city using a Global Positioning System.

"I don't think most municipalities are seriously looking at it," Wagner said. "But they can do some planning."

Miller and Kewaunee County Parks and Recreation Director Matt Payette plan to seek a DNR grant to develop an emerald ash borer plan for the county.

The county would cover half the cost of the $12,000 grant — or about $6,000. The Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission will address the county's plan.

"We really don't know what we want because we're going to be looking to her to tell us what we should be doing," Wagner said. The county board of supervisors will authorize a grant application.

For now, the traps have been stored for winter. But they will be replaced again in spring on trees to monitor the emerald ash borer.

When the emerald ash borer does arrive, Wagner wants communities to be prepared.

"We won't prevent it from happening," Wagner said. "What we're trying to do is keep it from spreading as quickly as possible."