Rut roh, Houston, we have a problem. So once again, the very same packaging company in China, that brought us the Dutch elm disease, has brought us a new gift, EAB. The very same street that was initially hit with Dutch Elm, was hit with EAB, bad thing is, when they removed all of the elms, they replaced them with ash trees, so again, the fine residents of a small Detroit suburb, on a nice dead end street, have dealt with complete and total loss of all their trees, twice!
Will it come here you ask? It already is. Although we have not had a confirmed case here in Iowa, that island in the Mississippi up north being the exception. We do know it’s here. Does this mean my ash tree is going to die, yep. It’s a living organism, its going to die eventually! EAB is a nasty bug, very aggressive. It feeds on the phloem of the tree, eventually, with multiple bugs in one tree, it cuts off the circulation of the tree and it dies. This can take up to 4 years. There are treatments, but so far they are only 80% effective. So if you have a tree that has 100 bugs………..
What will most likely happen, eventually they will be here in massive proportions, creating all kinds of hate and discontent. The DNR/EPA will issue an eradication order. Meaning that all ash trees will need to be destroyed, yeah, that’s what I said, ALL OF THEM. If you have one in your yard, you will receive a notice that you have “so many days” to remove it, if you do not, they will. In this case, imminent domain will be enforced, and right fully so. The reason for this, as the ash trees diminish, the food supply for these bugs will too. Nature being as awesome as it is, the bugs will evolve and find a new food supply. THIS WE MUST PREVENT. It sucks, I know. I like ash trees, but the thought of them going after our oaks, maples and for gods sake, our elms! Well it’s scary to think about! Currently, the powers to be are working really hard to stop it, most of the pros that I have talked to, have little faith that they will be successful, but we cannot give up. This is why you see the “don’t move firewood” signs everywhere and why it is illegal to bring ash into Iowa. For the details on this, go to the EAB page on the site here, it will give you links to the gov sites set up just for EAB. I have been working with the USDA on this and we believe we found one in Bettendorf, we have 2 of 4 items, need 3 to confirm, we did not discover this tree till late fall, we have set a traps and will re-inspect this spring.
