Woodpeckers To The Rescue
The U.S. Forest Service calls non-native insects the “wildfires of the East,” given the damage they cause to trees. One pest, the Emerald Ash Borer, has killed hundreds of millions of rural and urban ash trees. Strategies including ash tree removal, beetle traps, breeding resistant trees, parasitic wasps and insecticides have all contributed to the effort to control beetle populations once outward signs of damage, like yellowing leaves and dying branches or D-shaped 1/8″ beetle exit holes, have been detected.
Robert Haight, a Forest Service researcher in Minnesota, has initiated an attempt to identify beetle-infested ash trees BEFORE they show these signs of damage by keeping an eye out for woodpecker (and nuthatch) activity. One study found that woodpeckers ate 85% of the Emerald Ash Borer larvae in infested trees. These bark-foraging, insect-eating birds remove the outermost layers of bark in order to get at the Emerald Ash Borer beetle larvae within the tree. This removal of outer bark leaves splotches of lighter colored bark which are easy to detect. Early detection can result in early treatment, both natural and chemical, which bodes well for the survival of the tree. (Photo: female Pileated Woodpecker; Inset Photo of infested trees visited by woodpeckers by Christine Atkins)
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First Emerald Ash Borer Evidence Found in Vermont
It was only a matter of time before Vermont joined New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York as a host of the Emerald Ash Borer in the Northeast. This past week, the first evidence of an Emerald Ash Borer infestation was found in Orange, Vermont, bringing the number of states infected by this beetle to 32. The consensus is that the range of the Emerald Ash Borer has expanded rapidly due to the transportation of firewood from infested areas. On its own, the Emerald Ash Borer might spread one or two miles annually – far less than has been the case.
Other than seeing the Emerald Ash Borer itself (either the adult or the inner bark-eating larva) you can detect its presence by 1/8-inch-wide, D-shaped holes in ash bark and by S-shaped tunnels under the bark (see photo).
The insect does the most damage in its larval form, when it chews meandering tunnels through the inner bark of an otherwise healthy tree, depriving the tree over time of the means to transport water and nutrients. The Emerald Ash Borer affects all species of ash and once infected, trees usually die within a year or two.
The ash is the third important North American tree to succumb to blight over the last century, following the American Chestnut, and the American Elm. About one percent of ash populations survive infestations; these trees could indicate genetic tolerance which could hold hope for the future. (Photos: public domain)
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