Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
State officials have ratcheted up their campaign against the emerald ash borer, which poses a grave threat to Oregon’s ash trees.
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) is asking visitors to help slow the spread of the destructive pest by choosing certified heat-treated firewood or firewood harvested within 10 miles of their destination to avoid bringing the invasive insect into state parks.
OPRD also is asking visitors to leave any ash, olive and white fringe tree firewood and materials at home.
The emerald ash borer is considered the most destructive forest pest in North America, killing hundreds of millions of ash trees across the country.
It has been detected in four Oregon counties: Washington, Yamhill, Marion and Clackamas, prompting a permanent quarantine in those counties.
“So far, emerald ash borer has not been detected in Oregon State Parks, and we would like to keep it that way for as long as possible,” said Noel Bacheller, OPRD’s natural resource coordinator and ecologist in a press release.
The insect can only travel about 10 miles on its own during its brief adult life, but humans can spread it hundreds of miles through infested firewood and other tree materials. Once an ash tree is infested, it has little chance of survival even if it is otherwise healthy. The insect’s larvae consume the inner bark, causing ash trees to decline and eventually die.
Ash trees grow in riparian areas along rivers, streams and other low-elevation bodies of water in Western Oregon. The loss of ash trees could have a significant impact on riparian ecology, including loss of shade, increased water temperatures and decline in fish health.
Key battlegrounds for state parks officials in terms of combatting the pest generally lie in its riverside and riparian parks.
“As far as vulnerable parks, I know that Champoeg, Willamette Mission and the Willamette River Greenway have quite a few ash trees,” said Stefanie Knowlton, an OPRD spokesperson. “We have monitoring traps at Willamette Mission, Champoeg, Luckiamute, Banks-Vernonia Trailhead in Banks, Scappoose Bay Greenway and Mirror Lake at Rooster Rock. We also have ash trees at Silver Falls.”
Matt Palmquist, an interpretive park ranger at Silver Falls, told The Canyon Weekly “in our area, they are found much more commonly in valley bottoms – such as along Silver Creek in Silverton.
“That being said, we do have three small populations of ash at Silver Falls. I estimate the total number to be less than 200 trees (our riparian zones are dominated by red alder and bigleaf maple).”
Rangers at Detroit Lake State Recreation Area told The Canyon Weekly that the park does not have any ash trees but they have posted signs on the pest that emphasize the importance of purchasing firewood from the park’s supply and not bringing in outside firewood.
The Emerald Ash Borer
The problem: The emerald ash borer has killed tens of millions of ash trees in the United States and caused $2 billion in damage.
Source: The EAB is a native of eastern Asia (Russia, China, Mongolia, Japan and the Korean Peninsula).
Introduced: In 2002, likely through international shipping of infested wood product materials such as pallets in the Great Lakes area.
Casualties: Five eastern ash species – green, white, black, blue and pumpkin – already are listed as critically endangered.
How it works: Eggs laid in crevices of bark hatch and the larvae consume the inner phloem, cambium and outer xylem just beneath the bark. The feeding cuts off the flow of sugars from the leaves to the roots, effectively starving the trees.
Source: Oregon Department of Forestry
Resources/Information
• To report sightings of emerald ash borer make a report online at the Oregon Invasive Species Council hot line, https://oregoninvasiveshotline.org/reports/create or call 1-866-invader.
• For information about the impacts of EAB on Oregon’s urban forests and the risks to native ash trees visit https://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/IPPM/SurveyTreatment/Pages/EmeraldAshBorer.aspx.
