# State warns people to not disturb 12,000 ash trees



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

State warns people to not disturb 12,000 ash trees - 07/25/05 

http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0507/26/met-258524.htm

LANSING -- People should not disturb 12,000 ash trees around the state that have been tagged to detect the emerald ash borer, state officials said Monday. 

State officials selected the trees in every county except 20 that are quarantined in southeast Michigan. A ring of bark was removed from each tree because adult borers are more likely to lay eggs on stressed trees. 

The detection trees are 4 to 8 inches in diameter and are located on government and private property. They have been tagged with "do not disturb" signs. 

Starting in September, the trees will be cut down and their bark peeled to look for larva. 

Patricia Lockwood, the state's emerald ash borer policy director, said a similar early detection program last year led to containment strategies in six areas. 

"Detection provides a clearer picture of where the pest is in the state and allows us to effectively implement the best response and containment efforts," she said in a news release. 

The emerald ash borer is an exotic beetle native to Asia discovered in Michigan in 2002. The pest is responsible for the death or damage of about 15 million ash trees in 20 quarantined counties and 19 outlying areas.


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## Dawg (Jan 17, 2003)

Private land? I wonder if that is a voluntary effort.

Mildly better than the county line "quarantine" I suppose.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Yes this is voluntary. I had two tagged trees on my property last year. I enjoyed having them, because I used them as educational tools. Muskegon County needed 50 tag sites. My property is between two camprounds. The theory was that if borers escaped from contaminated camper wood brought in illegally they might show up. I was clean for a year and my area was later logged and chipped.


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## Dawg (Jan 17, 2003)

That's cool. I've only got one left, I'd hate to lose my ash.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I recently took a 4 day fishing vacation. I drove from the Detroit area; to just North of Hale; then across the State to Tippy dam. Being from the epi-center of the EAB infestation (Canton/Belleville) I am very familiar with what dying and dead Ash trees look like. In fact, I recognized that there was a serious problem several years before the nature of the problem was made public. 
Anyhow, I saw dead and dying Ash trees in every single County I traveled through. I have also noticed that some of the "dead" Ash trees have new growth sprouting from their lower trunks and/or branches. Not sure how viable this re-growth will be, but it does happen. 
This is a very large problem, and exists in every part of the lower peninsula that I have visited in the last year or two. Quarantining 20 Counties is doing nothing to stem this. I cannot see a solution, other than letting it run its course, and trying to re-plant with resistant strains of Ash in the future. If the Forestry Division of the DNR wants to pretend that this problem does not include the entire Lower Peninsula, then they have their heads in the sand.


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## Macker (Apr 27, 2004)

I have a place in branch county on marble lake, and last year the state was hireing private companies and the amish to go thru and cut down TONs and TOns of ash bore trees. Entire forest where changed with the removel of these trees. but this year they are not there? the tress are still taged with spray paiint from last with the ones that needed to be cut down but noone seems to be coming around. There is even an island on marble lake which people crossed and taged the trees and where plaing on getting to them some how, but now are not going to ??? which bums me out becuase there is a gaint tree in my duck blind that i would not mind comin down:lol: ,


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## Burksee (Jan 15, 2003)

:sad: Although it was brought on by an "invasive" species not typical to our state I believe that nature will take its course regardless of anything the state has or will do to try to prevent its spread.

That being said, the really sad part is after the state has spent (*litterly wasted) millions of dollars of our tax money that could have been used for schools, roads, schools, schools (*I think your getting my point) is that there will be a report (*another very expensive project!) that will read that after all thats been spent on the prevention of its spread that all the ash tree's in the state have or will die from EAB disease and that there was very little if anything that could have been done to prevent it............ :sad:


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## 45/70fan (May 29, 2005)

Fishndude: There are two varieties of ash borers in Michigan, one native and the other imported. The Emerald Ash Borer is the imported variety, the native ash borer is the Red Headed Ash Borer. Both varieties are deadly to Michigan's ash trees yet only the imported Emerald Ash borer is getting all the attention; unless you peel the bark from a dead or dying ash tree or look for a hole in the bark there is no visible way to indicate which borer has infested the tree/s. 
Here is a little help to the identification of which borer is present:
http://na.fs.fed.us/fhp/eab/img/img.shtm
My understanding is that the larve of the EAB leave an fairly symetrical S shaped track under the bark and exit the tree via a 1/8" D shaped hole, while the red headed ash borer leaves an irregular/wandering track under the bark and exits the tree as an adult via a O shaped hole.
http://na.fs.fed.us/fhp/eab/pubs/fieldguide/eabfg.pdf
Here is a little information on the Red Headed Ash Borer
http://www.bugguide.net/node/view/6770

Hope this answers some of your concerns about all the dead ash trees, all the dead trees weren't necessarily killed by the EAB but it is the imported variety that is getting all the grant money and attention. Either way the ash trees are in trouble. One bright spot I did note in doing some research was that there are several species of birds benefiting from the ash borer's spreading.


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