Ash Management Guide for Private Forest Landowners

Chapter 4The EmeraldAsh BorerGLOSSARYphloem: A layer of cells justinside the bark of plants thatconducts food from the leavesto the stem and roots.Manage ash trees to keepEAB populations lowEmerald ash borer is considered aphloem-feeding insect. Phloem tissue isbasically the inner bark in trees. A singlelarge tree will have much more phloemtissue than a small tree simply becauseof its greater bark surface area. We canestimate how much phloem tissue isavailable on any given acre by countingthe number of ash trees and their size.The amount of phloem available willdictate how many emerald ash boreroffspring could be produced in any givenarea. The concept is actually quite simple,the more food that is available for emeraldash borer larvae, the greater the numberof offspring that can be produced.Ash phloem reduction is an attemptto reduce the amount of food availableto EAB. A lack of food could limit howquickly an EAB population expands.Phloem reduction is generally recommendednear locations where EABis newly introduced and would generallybe considered an EAB managementstrategy not necessarily an ash manage-SurveyRecommendationAsh phloem reduction strategy ismeant for EAB management not ashmanagement, but it could be consideredwhen managing these stands asone of many considerations.ment strategy. Many stands in the wetforest and floodplain forest types havelarge amounts of ash and therefore largeamounts of ash phloem. This makesthem highly vulnerable to EAB once theinsect does arrive in the area.Therefore, some professionals suggestthat forest management in these areasmight include some level of ash removaland replacement with other site appropriatespecies as a stand management tacticthat could also accomplish long termphloem reduction on those sites.Emerald ash borerlocations in Midwestand eastern states.Key:Red dots =positive for EABBlue outlines =federal quarantinearea28