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

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.

On June 19, Arboretum staff members Dr. Gary Watson and Edith Makra were among those attending a large news conference announcing the discovery. Makra spoke about the Arboretum’s efforts on wood utilization.

The following is adapted from a Morton Arboretum press release that was handed out to reporters onsite and also distributed electronically.

Bringing Ash Trees ’Back to Life’ – As Something Else

Team Works Behind the Scenes to Create Positive Outcomes

Emerald ash borer (EAB) need not spell the end of an ash tree’s “life.” The Illinois Emerald Ash Borer Wood Utilization Team has taken great strides toward creating a positive from a negative: that is, to create a marketplace for wood from EAB-felled trees.

“Right now, as urban trees are removed, they are treated entirely as waste. We need to create conditions so that these trees take a sharp detour away from the wood-chipper, and instead, are made into consumer items or otherwise put to good use,” says Edith Makra, Wood Utilization Team chairwoman and Morton Arboretum Community Trees Advocate.

Currently, most dying urban trees in the United States are not harvested for their timber. But, if they were, they could provide nearly a quarter of the hardwood consumed each year in this country, according to the U.S. Forest Service. EAB threatens to destroy the estimated 130 million ash trees in Illinois, including the estimated 20 percent of Chicago street trees that  are lined with ash.

The Wood Utilization Team, comprised of 13 representatives of state, federal and local organizations, received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Forest Service Wood Education Resource Center last year. The team seeks to accomplish four goals that will allow EAB-felled ash to be reclaimed:

1. Arborists must bring down trees in a manner that leaves their wood marketable. The utilization team facilitated two training sessions last winter at Salt Creek Nursery in Westchester, teaching arborists to bring down urban trees with cut sections at least eight feet long. In conventional techniques, arborists remove trees in much shorter sections.

2. More sawyers are needed locally who will cut and process urban timber. Also, some sawyers perceive urban timber as undesirable – with unpredictable material in terms of size, quantity, quality and wood species. The team is surveying sawmills in the state and has taken steps to help sawyers better understand and consider urban timber.

3. Wood workers and others who purchase wood need to be aware that urban timber can meet their needs. The team is educating wood workers, architects, interior designers and others who incorporate wood into their products and plans about the favorable properties of ash wood and suggesting that these professionals consider asking for urban timber. For example, team members attended the International Green Build Conference last November, the National Cabinet Conference and Woodworking Expo in March and other recent events to encourage the use of urban timber. Team members are also reviewing labeling and certification systems that could encourage the use of urban wood.

Additionally, otherwise unusable logs, branches and bark will likely come to a useful end, too. A formerly defunct power plant in south suburban Robbins is coming back online and will need residual wood waste for fuel. This plant may wind up using EAB-felled ash trees.

4. Consumers need to become interested in purchasing products made of urban timber. The team is facilitating high-profile events, such as “Rising From The Ashes, Furniture From Lost Trees,” an exhibition of beautifully crafted furniture made of wood from EAB-felled trees. This show occurs at The Morton Arboretum August 23 – September 7, and then travels to other venues. Also, the team is collaborating with The Knapp Entrepreneurship Center of Illinois Institute of Technology, which is exploring entrepreneurial prospects. This summer and fall, an IIT class is developing a business model that would bring urban timber from property owner to market –  and produce profits.

Although EAB has created an urgent need to develop the capacity for harvesting urban ash trees, the team is laying the groundwork for reclaiming all timber from our ample urban forests.