As the emerald ash borer (EAB) continues to spread through the northeast, and as federal restrictions on movement of ash tree products are being loosened, NorthWoods encourages you to follow guidelines for slowing the spread of EAB. Your actions as a landowner, logger, forester, arborist, fireplace aficionado can make a positive difference in the health of our forests. Keep reading for NorthWoods alumni Galen Wilbur’s real-world experience with EAB management (nice work, Galen!), as well as recommendations from the State of Vermont to help Slow the Spread of EAB.

EAB is present in at least 35 states in the US, including nearly every eastern state, as well as 5 provinces in Canada. This invasive insect can cause immense damage to all species of ash trees, although active research into control methods (biocontrols, insecticides, and other methods) show some hope, and at least one study in Michigan found areas with high survival rates of white ash after EAB infestation (Robinett 2018) suggesting that all is not lost. For most Vermonters, the most effective way to prevent ash mortality related to EAB is to avoid moving firewood and other ash wood products from infested areas, monitor and report signs of EAB, and use good silvicultural practices to manage ash in your forest (and please, don’t cut all your ash! Some ash trees might be resistant to EAB, but none are resistant to a chainsaw!)

For more information on EAB in Vermont, visit https://vtinvasives.org/land/emerald-ash-borer-vermont

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I’ve been spitting wood for my old arborist boss since I have arrived back at my family’s home in RI.

Yesterday I was splitting and my boss told me he was bringing a load of ash to split fresh from a jobsite because ash is readily burnable as firewood almost immediately after being split.

NOW… whenever I hear ash firewood I always get a little uneasy because I know the possibility of the borer being inside the wood. In the past my boss has had me split some before, and I did not find any evidence of the terrible EAB inside the wood pile of the past.

However I was still on the lookout when he pulled the truck up the splitting pile and low and behold after taking a close look…boom!! D-shaped holes peppered throughout the bark of this freshly cut down ash tree! I peeled off some bark to find all the tunnels in the cambium that the borer had been very busy making.

SO I flagged my boss down and broke the news to him. I told him that we definitely should not sell this firewood. So the resolute solution was to bring the wood to his fathers outdoor firewood heating system that is on site about 50ft from the splitting pile. They will immediately incinerate all the ash wood inside the ultra efficient boiler delivering heat to 2 houses. We both thought that that was the best idea since he had already moved the wood from the homeowners house to his home base behind his dad’s house. And this would make the infested wood go away quickly, without moving the wood anywhere else.

Despite all the EAB evidence I never did see an actual borer. The wood was green indicating that the tree was alive while my boss was taking it down. Now that I caught this my boss has been re-educated about the borer and signs of its presence and will be on the lookout even keener in the future.

It’s funny because many people around here consider the work of a tree guy to be done by dull brutish lugs smoking cigarettes that could care less about the trees that they are taking down, but all it takes is one guy on the crew to be educated about invasives and they can prevent spreading a big problem.

So thank you for the power you bestowed upon me, KNOWLEDGE!! I used that knowledge to do my best to help stop the spread of the EAB!!!