The Morton Arboretum and collaborators are attempting to protect North American ash species and ensure they survive, using seeds of Chinese ash species that the Arboretum’s Kris Bachtell, Director of Collections and Facilities,  collected recently in China. An estimated 25 million ash trees in North America have died from Emerald ash borer (EAB), and the beetle shows no sign of letting up.

After the Arboretum grows the Chinese species from the collected seeds, experts will evaluate the trees’ resistance to EAB. Ultimately, the Arboretum hopes to develop a hybrid of the Chinese and North American ash with resistance strong enough to survive an onslaught of the beetles.

“There is very good evidence there is resistance to the Emerald Ash borer in China’s ashes,” says Bachtell. “If you want to test a species for its insect and disease resistance, it’s best to test a tree that’s not a hybrid. That’s why we collect wild seeds, to get the species’ pure form. We have few, if any, of the ash species that we collected already on our grounds,” Bachtell said.

Dr. Fredric Miller, Arboretum Research Associate, and Kunso Kim, Arboretum Assistant Director of Collections, are already working on securing a grant for a study to evaluate the susceptibility of different types of ash to the Emerald ash borer. Though this study evaluates ash currently part of the Arboretum’s collections, future studies will include trees grown from seeds that Bachtell collected. Bachtell traveled to a remote area southwest of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, making 50 collections (several thousand seeds total) including five ash species: Pax’s ash, Manchurian ash, Chinese ash, Chinese flowering ash, and island ash, which is a rare species not found in the United States. He also collected seeds from hardy linden and maple species.

Joining Bachtell’s expedition were Christopher Carley from the U.S. National Arboretum, Tony Aiello from the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania and Kang Wang, host from the Beijing Botanic Garden.

The collected seeds literally had to clear customs, and Bachtell says federal authorities have been conducting tests including X-rays to make sure that no seeds contain diseases or pests.

EAB has invaded the Illinois landscape, which is comprised of 131 million ash trees statewide, and is ravaging ash in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Missouri–hitting Michigan especially hard.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will keep many of the collected seeds in their Crop Germplasm System, a seed bank available to researchers around the world.

“I may not see the hybrid in my generation. Introducing trees is a multi-generational thing,” says Bachtell. “Trees are a long term investment. It’s a deliberate, but slow process.”

The Morton Arboretum gratefully acknowledges F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Company for its support of the China expedition.

Thank you.

Erinn

Bachtell’s expedition to China was funded by grants from the North America/China Plant Exploration Consortium and the United States Department of Agriculture. In total, he made 50 collections, mostly ash seeds, but some from maples, lindens and oaks. He focused on collecting new Chinese species that might best grow in Chicago’s urban and suburban landscapes.

Here Bachtell shares with the tree talk community the importance of ash tree studies.

tt: What did you research while in China?

Bachtell: I spent most days hiking, looking for ash trees. With the help of the Director of Living Plant Documentation from the Beijing Botanic Garden and two colleagues from Morris Arboretum and the U.S. National Arboretum, we located six different wild ash species and collected seeds from five: the Chinese ash, Manchurian ash, Pax’s ash, Chinese Flowering ash, and Island ash, which is an ash so rare it’s believed not to exist in the United States.

tt: Why collect these wild ash seeds?

Bachtell: There is evidence that Chinese ash trees are resistant to the Emerald Ash borer, the invasive insect that is ravishing 25 million ash trees across the United States and infesting seven counties in Illinois alone. If you want to test a species for its insect and disease resistance, it’s best to test it in its purest form from wild seeds. We will receive the seeds this November and begin using them for testing in a year.

tt: How is your seed collection important to the future of ash survival?

Bachtell: It provides a foundation of knowledge for insect resistance and breeding work. We’re helping pave the way toward the creation of an ash hybrid that is resistant to the Emerald Ash borer. I may not see an ash hybrid in my lifetime, but our research promises it will exist someday—and that will help guarantee that our Green ash will survive.

Want to know more? You can ask Kris Bachtell specific questions about his trip by posting your inquiries here, and he’ll post a response.

Tree-lined Chicago streets provide a picturesque image, but that image is likely to change with the recent discovery of Emerald ash borer (EAB) within city limits. Does the EAB find mean infested trees must go to the chipper? The simple answer is no.

Just as these ash trees have brought beauty to Chicago streets, they can be reclaimed and reused to create new, practical and striking creations. Some marvelous examples were recently on display at the Rising from Ashes: Furniture from Lost Trees, a traveling furniture exhibition at The Morton Arboretum that ran from August 22 – September 7.

“The show provided an opportunity to raise awareness, share with a greater audience, and bring the problems of EAB to the forefront. Through this exhibition, we hoped to show that art and beauty can be created out of wood that would otherwise be wasted,” said Anamari Dorgan, Arboretum Manager of Interpretation and Exhibits.

The exhibition, which was a joint venture between the Arboretum and the Chicago Furniture Designers Association (CFDA), emphasized the value of urban forests and the destructive effects of EAB. Some 30 pieces of furniture, created by CFDA members out of ash wood felled due to EAB infestation, were featured during this exhibition with messages focusing on the Emerald ash borer, the steps to process harvested ash trees into lumber, the furniture making process and the properties of ash and its uses.

Ash wood has excellent working properties that make it suitable for a multitude of different projects. It is generally straight-grained, with cream-colored sapwood and brown to grayish-brown heartwood. Because the Emerald ash borer does not damage or even reach the heartwood, there is no danger of spreading EAB when reclaiming infested wood. It can be used as furniture, flooring, cabinetry and sporting goods such as baseball bats. Trees not  suitable for lumber can be used to generate heat or electricity, as mulch or as wood chips.

Chicago streets contain an estimated 20 percent ash. Illinois has an estimated 131 million ash trees. Dead, damaged, diseased or otherwise unwanted urban trees could supply nearly a quarter of the annual hardwood consumed in America, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Therefore, by reclaiming and reusing trees that would otherwise be destroyed, there would be less need to remove perfectly healthy trees for lumber.

The Illinois Emerald Ash Borer Wood Utilization Team, which is chaired by Arboretum arborist and Community Trees Advocate Edith Makra, is working to facilitate the follwing four “building blocks” that will be essential for urban timber to see a new life:

1. Arborists must bring down urban trees in a manner that leaves their wood marketable, that is, in sections at least eight feet long. In conventional techniques, arborists remove trees in much shorter sections.

2. We need more local sawyers able to cut and process urban timber, which is often variable in quantity, character and availability.

3. Wood workers and others who purchase wood need to be aware that urban timber could meet their needs.

4. Consumers need to request and purchase products made of urban timber.

“Urban trees in general are treated as waste. There is valuable lumber in our landscape trees that can and should be harvested,” Makra says. 

See more than 20 pieces of fine furniture made from ash wood by members of the Chicago Furniture Design Association. The traveling exhibition, designed by The Morton Arboretum, highlights the value of urban forests and the devastating effects of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), as well as the furniture-making process and the use of ash as lumber. Find local sawyers and furniture designers able to work with EAB infested ash wood.

August 23–September 7
Exhibit
Daily, 10 am-4 pm
Visitor Center

August 30, 31, September 1, 6, &, 7
Demonstrations

Saturdays & Labor Day, 11 am–4 pm
Sundays, 1-4 pm
Visitor Center

For more information try this link to video coverage from Channel 7 based on a press release from The Arboretum’s to other media about the exhibition:
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6315746

Learn more about this exhibition and what’s behind urban wood reclamation.