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EAB Infested Trees

Options for when your ash trees have become infested with EAB.

Silvicultural Recommendations for Ash

  • Emerald Ash Borer Planning Simulator (EAB-PLANS®) - Beta Version
    This program was developed to assist decision-makers in managing ash trees in urban and community forests challenged by EAB.
  • EAB Cost Calculator
    This version is driven by an EAB invasion wave model that lets you modify your treatment strategy after the initial wave of EAB has passed. It can produce estimates of forests that contain up to 4,000 ash trees.
  • Factors affecting the survival of ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees infested by emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis)
    2012 - Kathleen S. Knight, John P. Brown and Robert P. Long - The article is on the survival analysis of ash trees in Ohio. According to Kathleen Knight, the main take-home message was that ash trees actually died slightly faster in stands with lower densities of ash, the opposite of what the authors thought would happen. This is just the speed of mortality, not the % mortality (almost all the ash trees die eventually no matter what).
  • Ash Management Guidelines for Private Forest Landowners pdf
    University of Minnesota Extension and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources - Chosen for a 2012 Notable Documents Award from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) for public policy, recognizing the publication as innovative in providing substantive information on contemporary issues of interest.
  • Ash Silvicultural Prescription Handout pdf
    Michigan DNR - 2011 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grant - As the emerald ash borer (EAB) outbreak spreads through various Michigan Counties, landowners are advised to prepare by working with forestry professionals to obtain a forest management plan that prescribes harvest practices designed to reduce but not eliminate the ash component of their upland hardwood stands.
  • Ash Management: Emerald Ash Borer
    2012 - Michigan DNR - Forest Resources Division - As stewards of Michigan's ash resources, a goal is to reduce the vulnerability of our forest resources to the emerald ash borer (EAB). The goal is not to eliminate ash from the forest, but to create a more diverse forest resource that is resistant to catastrophic changes affecting a single species or genera. Generally, the recommendation is to reduce the ash component of forest stands to a maximum10% of total stand basal area, and to promote tree species diversity. Vigorous pole size and smaller ash should be targeted for retention. Removing one large ash has a much greater effect on reducing EAB population potential than does removing many saplings or a few pole size trees. The objective is to create a stand that will maintain a minimum or greater basal area, in the event that all ash is eventually lost to EAB.

Removal Information

Replacement Information

General Information

Michigan

  • Alternative Tree Species Selection pdf
    This guide gives suggestions for species that should be considered in situations where a homeowner, landscape, or urban forester may have planted an ash in the past in Michigan's lower peninsula

Colorado

  • Colorado Tree Coalition
    The Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architecture, Colorado Nursery & Greenhouse Association, Colorado Tree Coalition and Colorado State University Extension have compiled a Front Range Tree Recommendation List to help choose the right tree for specific areas.

Indiana

Illinois

Minnesota

Nebraska

  • ReTree for Nebraska's "Good Trees for the Good Life"
    To promote species diversity, ReTree Nebraska has chosen a select group of preferred species that perform well in Nebraska but aren't widely planted. ReTree Nebraska's Good Trees for the Good Life helps individuals choose the right tree for their landscape while improving the species diversity and vitality of Nebraska's community forests.

Ohio

  • Ash Replacements for Urban and Woodland Plantings pdf
    2005 - OSU Ash Alert - In developing this guide for selecting tree species to use to replace ash, it was assumed that, if not for emerald ash borer, one or more of the ash species would be suitable for the planting. Tree species included in this guide, therefore, are generally of the same size as ash and grow well on sites suitable for one or more of the native ash species. You will not, for example, find tree species in this guide that grow to a maximum height of 25 feet and which would be suitable for planting under utility power lines, as ash would not be an appropriate tree for such a planting.

Wisconsin

Treatment Information

Emerald Ash Borer Control
From the Michigan State University Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.
View original story »

© 2011, Great Lakes Echo, Michigan State University Knight Center for Environmental Journalism. Republish under these guidelines. Reporting supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The following contain useful information for professionals:

  • Tools for Staging and Managing Emerald Ash Borer in the Urban Forest pdf
    (Purdue University, 2017)
    In this study, researchers develop a model for predicting ash mortality over an eight-year period, and validated with data from the removal of >14,000 ash trees killed by EAB in Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. It was determined that strategies that most heavily relied on saving ash trees were less expensive and produced a larger forest than those strategies that mostly removed and replaced ash trees. Ratios of total discounted costs to discounted cumulative benefits of strategies that saved most ash trees were over two-thirds lower than strategies of proactive tree removal and replacement. Delaying implementation of an ash management program until damage would be visible and more obvious to the community (Year 5 of the model) decreased the cost–benefit ratio by < 5%.
  • "Slow Ash Mortality" – SLAM Pilot Project
    Description: The SLAM project is a collaborative effort involving Michigan State University, the USDA Forest Service, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Michigan Technological University (MTU), the Michigan Dept. of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources (MDNR), and Michigan Conservation Districts in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The goal of the SL.A.M. pilot project in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is to delay and slow the expansion of ash mortality by reducing populations of the beetle in newly-infested sites, outside of known EAB infestations.

EAB Research and Technology Development Proceedings

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since the emerald ash borer's discovery in 2002, research has been ongoing to develop tools to control and eliminate this pest. Currently, there are a number of treatments available for use by homeowners or tree care professionals that can provide a varying degree of beetle control. A review of all options is recommended. As more methods are developed, more information will be available. References to commercial products or trade names do not imply endorsement by the entities supplying the information, or bias against those not mentioned. Reprinting of any material on this site cannot be used to endorse or advertise a commercial product or company.

AshSeed

In response to extensive tree mortality by the EAB, ash seeds are being collected for long term storage to preserve genetic resources of the ash species. This has been a combined effort of the Agricultural Research Service and the Forest Service along with NRCS, BLM, and over 50 cooperators.

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