Ash Management Guide for Private Forest Landowners

Photo by Pennsylvania Department of Conservation andNatural Resources - Forestry Archive, Bugwood.orgInformation on QuarantinesWhen ash has been killed by EAB,county-by-county quarantines will beput into effect by the Minnesota Departmentof Agriculture. A quarantine is atemporary rule intended to help preventa potentially dangerous or destructivepest or disease organism from spreadingoutside a known infested area into newareas. In the case of EAB, the quarantineis designed to limit the movementof potentially infested firewood or othermaterials such as live ash trees that mightharbor EAB larvae.The regulations for transportingwood out of a quarantined county will requireactions that will add cost to the rawwood material harvested from the forest.For many wood products, this extraprocessing will be cost prohibitive. Theleast expensive action to enable ash to betransported out of a quarantine countywill involve chipping the solid wood inorder to destroy the medium that EABuses to reproduce.Chipping will add the least costto harvested ash wood as markets willSpecialty markets significanceBurls are abnormal growths thatprovide a wonderful source for decorativewood with fanciful grain or figuring. It isbelieved that a burl is created when thereis an injury or other external stimulus thataffects the growth pattern ofreadily accept chips. Markets for chipsin Minnesota include biomass burningfacilities, located in both rural andurban settings, a few pulp mills, and oneoriented strand board mill. By far, themarket for fuel chips will absorb most ofthe volume produced by this method.Ash prices will decreaseIt is possible that large volumes ofash will be killed at the same time, necessitatingthe removal of more volume thancould be absorbed by current markets.The effect of an oversupply of any commodityis that the unit price of that commoditydrops. This situation could easilyhappen with ash.It is likely that this condition wouldbe short-lived and last until the volumeof dead ash is reduced. At that point, itseems probable that, because of a scarcesupply, the price of ash would begin torecover to former levels, perhaps evenincreasing to a premium level. Ash hasnever garnered a very high price in thewood stumpage market. The affect ofquarantines on the movement of ashresources will potentially be major.the tree and results in a deformity. Woodgrain patterns may be wavy, swirled,marbled or feathered depending on thetype of burl.Ash is considered one of the best ofthese “character woods;” burls on ashtrees are highly sought after. Ash displaysa pronounced grain, with a wide to broadrange of grains and color that make ituniquely the most consistent choice forthose looking for character wood orreal “wood” feel. Ash takes stainextremely well and its grainChapter 3Ash: A 21stCentury ResourceGLOSSARYquarantine: A temporaryrule intended to help preventa potentially dangerous ordestructive pest or disease organismfrom spreading outsidea known infested area. In thecase of the emerald ash borer(EAB), quarantines are designedto limit the movement ofpotentially infested firewood orother materials such as live ashtrees that might harbor EABlarvae. For more informationon quarantines see AppendixB, pages 63-64.biomass: Harvesting thewood product obtained(usually) from in-woodschipping of all or some portionof trees including limbs, tops,and unmerchantable stems,usually for energy production.oriented strand board: Alsoknown as OSB or waferboard,is an engineered wood productformed by layering strands(flakes) of wood in specificorientations.burl: An abnormal growthof woody tissue protrudingoutward from a tree stemor trunk.character wood: Woodprized by artists or craftsmanbecause of its unique ordistinctive grain patterns orform. Examples of characterwood include burls andcrotch wood.Ash burl, “Fraxinus cornu”Photo: Tim Byrns21