EAB reaches Wisconsin

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Lot of good points treevet. Mind if I expand a couple of thoughts here?



There is also the problem that it is difficult to detect in early stages of infestation. There were many areas across the "firebreak" that were infested before the firebreak line was even first penciled onto a map. WAY too much of our money was wasted on this long after it was obvious we were cutting a firebreak behind the fire. I was probably moved to MANY small pockets (likely throughout Ohio and Michigan, Chicago, etc...) before regulation #1 was written.


Much earlier. It was discovered/identified in 2002. Probably there at least 10 years before it was identified. So yeah...the rest of us can blame it on Michigan. Northern Michigan can blame it on tourists, but they should start looking to Detroit tourists first, then to the rest of the tourists.

Yes, little public education/information has been a problem, but not the only problem.

Great points as well but not blamin it on Mich. If I were to blame it on anyone it would be the importers (not the Chinese, the borer doesn't faze their ash trees).
 
I have trouble even blaming the importer. NOBODY even knew this bug existed. They had to go to some guy in the Czech Republic to ID it, and there were literally 2 papers ever published on it.

FWIW, to answer one of your specific questions, dingeryote: You asked: ....what has been done to eliminate the possiblity of it getting here again?
ALL wood material from China are supposed to be treated (fumigated or kiln dried). USDA-APHIS enforces this. I think the Chines gvt. is responsible for signing off on this at point of export---so we can be certain beyond doubt that it happens every time as regulated. :rolleyes: I think that regulation was put in place in the late 90's after asian longhorned bettle was discovered = before EAB discovered, but probably after it was imported.

You also said:
Another good excuse for standardized plastic pallets and cribbing I guess.
Gotta disagree on the wisdom of going from a cheap renewable resource that recycles in to mulch easily, and deomposes readily to a very very costly, non-renewable resource that is costly to recycle and breaks down very slow. (But that is another discussion, and likely involves philosophical ideals that end up being more opinion than fact and certainly aren't within the scope of this section of the forum....)
 
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Also would like to point out that the long initial lag time (10 years was mentioned, I have heard many other periods) prior to discovery of the EAB was also partly to blame on the misdiagnosis of "Ash Yellows" as the decline until it was properly identified.
 
Thanks to a post elsewhere on this site by ATH, here is a helpful resource for learning about the EAB.

"Here is a link to some resources to help identify EAB and other common ash borers. Really, to know with pretty good certainity, you have to scrape the bark and look for S-shaped galleries. Your Dept of Agriculture (or whoever is in charge of pest detection) will want to know as will the USDAS_APHIS"
-ATH

http://www.emeraldashborer.info/identifyeab.cfm

Yes, I can see Ash trees from every window in my house and I'm terrified about what this next summer season may reveal.

Even though I own a 56" and 36" Alaskan mill, and am a wood worker, I really don't want this sort of program to expand...

http://www.risingfromashes.org/

Keep your fingers crossed, pray, educate everybody you know, sacrifice a virgin to the gods, do what ever you can to help prevent the spread of this problem.

Thanks again to ATH for the information.
 
We were in the same situation you are in about 3 years ago. Then things died down a little after all the hoopla. Now it has just been a waiting game for populations to build up....and they are probably, especially somewhere unmonitored. We have a site about 10 miles away.
 
Not trying to sound negative here... I wish you guys in Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana (Minnesota by 2011) alot of luck, but, we have as a country, "closed the barn door after the horse got out". Next up: Sirex Wood Wasp, Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, Asian Long Horned Beetle, etc. etc. etc. :dunno:
 
Not trying to sound negative here... I wish you guys in Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana (Minnesota by 2011) alot of luck, but, we have as a country, "closed the barn door after the horse got out". Next up: Sirex Wood Wasp, Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, Asian Long Horned Beetle, etc. etc. etc. :dunno:

Honesty and truth can be a harsh reality but I am on the same page as you are Urban Forester. Time to cut losses and move on.
 
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People got all giddey over a study (conducted on a golf course---think they put anything on the turf to control grubs?) published that showed it killed 100% of larvae in a few trees. The studies used it every year, but the marketer is trying to make it sound less costly by saying you can use it every other year but the less-biased experts I have heard all still say treat every year.

I am still using soil drench of imidacloprid for a few reasons:
1) Cost of the chemical is about 1/3 to 1/4 of tree-age
2) Doesn't wound the tree every year
3) Longer proven track record

I personally think it's best place is in treating trees with established infestation. I know a lot of folks are using it so we'll see over time...
 
Damn, spending $600,000 of the public's hard earned dollars....not for eradication but rather for temporary protection. As usual the article sounds like the destructive insect is being attacked with an offensive campaign when in reality, like the Viet Nam war a defensive battle is being waged. This can never gain victory.

Spend huge amounts of money and when it can no longer be rationalized....that particular year...the populations that have built up in the woods and parks etc of untreated trees will fly on over and partake of the new dinners.

There is no eradication because of the nature of the insect unlike a leaf feeder such as gypsy moth etc that can be mass sprayed. Also the percent of control which is not a hundred percent like Ms. Mcullough states IMO when under heaviest pressure the ash trees will succumb even to a small percent of total hits when the numbers are a smashing into the windowshield high number.

$600,000.00 in these economical times yearly or every other year, that is a travesty.

Also they need to start early to gain success and likely a number of years will transpire with the whole truck load of money being totally wasted as the insects are not even in the area and are very hard to detect. They are playing around with soil drenches in my town on small trees now for 2 years and there have been no EAB found and I look every day. I am up in the canopy where they start. Waste of taxpayer's dollars.
 
Hunting elephants w/a chipmunk gun...too many trees, spreading resources too thin, i.e. trying to save everything, all the same mistakes we made...
 
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Yes sir... it is about money, I think the makers of "tree-age" will be smiling all the way to the bank. If I remember the guys who make it are $ygenta... I think that's the right spelling? ;)
 
And the small trees that are hung on to with some kind of a pipe dream of hope are getting bigger every year, costing more to treat, and causing a bigger and bigger loss of canopy when the budget cut is enacted.

All this time span is a loss of potential canopy of replacements that could logically have begun right now. Been there done that. Our forestry voted down the treatments and the govt. with the urging of a private national based company has opted to perpetuate the ash.....for now. Easy to do when there are no EAB in the area.....yet (10 miles down the road).
 

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