The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)

Going, going ... gone?

Scientists: Ash tree species pushed to brink of extinction

- By Malcolm Ritter The Associated Press

Ash trees are a major part of eastern forests and urban streets, providing yellow and purplish leaves to the bounty of fall colors.

Five prominent species of ash tree in the eastern U.S. have been driven to the brink of extinction from years of lethal attack by a beetle, a scientific group says.

Tens of millions of trees in the U.S. and Canada have already succumbed, and the toll may eventually reach more than 8 billion, the Internatio­nal Union for Conservati­on of Nature said Thursday.

Ash trees are a major part of eastern forests and urban streets, providing yellow and purplish leaves to the bounty of fall colors. Their timber is used for making furniture and sports equipment like baseball bats and hockey sticks.

The rampage of the emerald ash borer is traced to the late 1990s, when it arrived from Asia in wood used in shipping pallets that showed up in Michigan. Asian trees have evolved defenses against the insect, but the new North American home presented it with vulnerable trees and no natural predators.

“The population­s are exploding,” said Murphy Westwood of the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. Infestatio­ns have been detected in 30 states.

“it’s a very efficient killer,” Westwood said. “As the ash borer moves through a forest, it will completely kill all of the mature ash trees within three or four years.”

She led the scientific assessment that resulted in classifyin­g the five species as critically endangered — meaning they are facing an extremely high risk

of extinction in the wild. The change appears on the IUCN’s Red List, considered by scientists the official index of what animals and plants are in danger of disappeari­ng. The species are the green, black, white, pumpkin and blue ash.

A sixth species, the Carolina ash, was put in the less serious category of “endangered” because it might find some refuge from the infestatio­n in the southern part of its range, which includes Florida, Texas and Cuba, Westwood said.

Dan Herms, an entomologi­st at Ohio State University who studies the ash borer, called it “the most devastatin­g insect ever to invade North American forests.” It’s already the most expensive because it has killed so many urban trees that had to be removed, disposed of and replaced, which has cost billions of dollars, he said.

Herms, who was not involved in the IUCN project, said he’s not sure the ash species will literally disappear. But he said they could become “functional­ly extinct,” with population­s too small to play a significan­t role in the environmen­t for benefits like providing shelter and filtering water.

 ?? MORTON ARBORETUM VIA AP ?? This photo provided by the Morton Arboretum in September 2012 shows blue ash trees (Fraxinus quadrangul­ata). On Thursday the Internatio­nal Union for the Conservati­on of Nature said five prominent species of ash tree in the eastern U.S. have been driven...
MORTON ARBORETUM VIA AP This photo provided by the Morton Arboretum in September 2012 shows blue ash trees (Fraxinus quadrangul­ata). On Thursday the Internatio­nal Union for the Conservati­on of Nature said five prominent species of ash tree in the eastern U.S. have been driven...
 ?? MIKE GROLL — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE ?? An emerald ash borer larvae is removed from an ash tree in Saugerties, N.Y.
MIKE GROLL — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE An emerald ash borer larvae is removed from an ash tree in Saugerties, N.Y.
 ?? CHARLIE NEIBERGALL — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? A notice of removal is attached to an ash tree in Des Moines, Iowa. Daunted by the cost and difficulty of stopping the emerald ash borer, many cities are choosing to destroy their trees before the insect can.
CHARLIE NEIBERGALL — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A notice of removal is attached to an ash tree in Des Moines, Iowa. Daunted by the cost and difficulty of stopping the emerald ash borer, many cities are choosing to destroy their trees before the insect can.

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