From the Detroit News and Fres Press, by Marty Hair
With little cash and a big need to cut down ash trees around four outbreaks of emerald ash borers, the Michigan agriculture department is seeking a giant helping hand.
Hey, Paul!
Paul Bunyan!
This is no tall tale.
Some 900 tree-cutters, timber and paper companies received letters last month asking them to pitch in to drop a circle of ash trees within a half mile of borer infestations in Emmet, Cheboygan, Presque Ile and Alcona counties in northern Lower Michigan.
The problem is there is no way to pay for the removal.
Less than half of the hoped-for federal dollars for tree removal has been released. The agriculture department has spent it to get rid of ash trees around remote infestations outside a 20-county quarantine.
"Without full funding, we've had to get a little creative," said Jennifer Quimby, a state agriculture department spokesperson.
The state's strategy -- devised with the help of a national panel of scientists -- is to remove ash trees within a half mile of infestations to starve the local population of borers. The borers have killed 15 million ash trees in the quarantined counties and in 18 so-called outliers, or infestations beyond the quarantine. Michigan has an estimated 700 million ash trees.
The wood-boring beetles, believed to have hitched a ride into Michigan from Asia in packing wood material, have spread to Ohio, Indiana, Ontario and isolated spots in Virginia and Maryland.
So far, emerald ash borers have not turned up in the Upper Peninsula. To keep it that way, the state agriculture department will begin inspecting all firewood at the Mackinac Bridge this spring. It is illegal to take firewood out of the quarantined counties or the outliers.
The agriculture department is asking arborists and other companies to determine how much it would cost them to remove the trees in the four northern Lower Michigan outliers, how they'd use the wood -- possibilities include to make paper, as boards or as fuel -- and how much it would be worth to them.
If interested, the potential Paul Bunyans would have to agree with the state on a price, on which trees to cut and sign a contract promising to minimize site disruption.
"The value of the wood may be equal to or less than the cost to remove it. If there is a profit, that would go to the property owner," said Gary King, a deputy agriculture director.
Last fall, the state asked the federal government for $29.5 million for its 2005 fight against emerald ash borers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommended $22 million for all the affected states. The Office of Management and Budget has released $11 million. King said he hopes more money will be heading this way within two months. If it materializes, the state may try additional ways to remove the ash trees in the four northern counties.
The best time to remove the ash trees would be before May, when the new generation of adult beetles emerges and starts flying. However, because of the time required to line up contracts and arrange work at sometimes swampy sites, it may not be possible to cut the trees until summer, fall or even next winter, King said.
The state is cutting ash trees in Hillsdale and St. Clair counties, which are within the quarantine. They are considered gateways, or places where the beetle could jump into new territory. The agriculture department also set 10,000 trap trees last year to map the outer boundary of the borers' population.
For more on the insects, go to www.emeraldashborer.info.
