“Airy budding ash tree. You have made a throne, and the sweetest thrush in all the world is sitting there alone.”
— Menella Bute Smedley, English poet (1820-1877)
My neighbor E.H. and I were nearing home where we saw what looked like an odd-shaped purple shopping bag hanging high in a tree.
E.H. stopped the car and I got out. It was a triangular shaped box suspended overhead by a hook. When and how did it get there? What was it for? Surely, we would have noticed an elongated, glistening, purple structure hanging from a tree.
On the tree’s trunk was tacked a business card. Leaping across a leaf-filled ditch, I photographed the card with my phone. Handy devices those phones.
The card said “Emerald Ash Borer Survey Tree. US Department of Agriculture EAB Survey.” It was followed by a phone number. We were on to something.
First, I checked the Internet. The website Emerald Ash Borer Information Network said the EAB was the “Most destructive pest ever in North America.” This was scary stuff. If the beetle was found, the area would be in quarantine. Regulatory agencies and the USDA could enforce quarantines on removing infested ash trees, logs and hardwood firewood out of the infested area. Apparently, these little beetles have killed hundreds of millions of ash trees in North America. Killing time is five to seven years.
Just outside my bedroom window grows an ash tree. This tree navigates my season changes. Ash wood is beneficial for craft wood, used for making food bowls, paddles, tool handles, baseball bats and items that require curved wood, like snowshoes.
The eastern two-thirds of the United States shows a presence of the EAB. Thus far Mississippi is an exception. Armed with a little knowledge, I called the number on the card and talked to three different helpful agencies regarding the EAB beetle.
Rhonda Santos, with APHIS (USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), was most helpful, sending several documents regarding the Emerald Ash Borer.
The beetle was first discovered in Michigan in 2002. It is increasingly discovered in other states including those surrounding Mississippi; Tennessee in 2010, Arkansas 2014, Louisiana 2015 and Alabama in November of 2016.
It’s thought the beetle entered the country from its native Asia in solid wood packing materials on cargo transports. Signs of the Emerald Ash Borer include:
· An Adult beetle, metallic green and about a half-inch long.
· The beetle only attacks ash trees.
· A “D” shaped exit hole can be seen in the bark in the spring where the beetle emerges.
· Woodpeckers eat EAB larvae, so woodpeckers on ash trees may indicate infestation.
Our purple EAB trap is only one of 22 traps that have been installed in ash trees in Lowndes County. The traps are checked once in the summer and again in the fall when they’ll be removed. If you have spotted the purple prism-shaped trap in your area, I’d love to hear about it. There are Internet instructions to make your own EAB trap. Riddance of the beetle is done by releasing stingless wasps.
If you have or need any more information on the Emerald Ash Borer or the traps, there’s a friendly EAB hotline. Call 1-866-322-4512.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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