AREA TOWNS – Since the emerald ash borer was first detected in Vermont in 2018, Plainfield has been unlucky in its relationship with the invasive beetle. The town is a hotspot for infestations right now, leaving dry, rotted-out ash trees ready to crash.
But Hardwick, just a few towns north, has never seen any confirmed case of emerald ash borer, according to the state.
photo courtesy Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets
“It’s a good lesson in how the insect spreads,” said Noah Hoffman, the invasive species coordinator for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. “Most of the emerald ash borer in the state, we put it there.”
The emerald ash borer chews its way through forests with little regularity; it often spreads as a result of human activity, being carried on infested firewood or logging timber. They are most likely to use ash trees, which make up 6% of Vermont’s trees by volume, as a host for larvae. The bugs have been spotted in 96 out of Vermont’s 247 municipal areas, Hoffman said.
That there are no emerald ash borers in Hardwick could be attributed to the work that foresters, educators and town management have done to slow the spread.
“The state has done a great job with their educational outreach,” said Rose Paul of Plainfield’s conservation commission, “and we’ve tried to do our part in town.”
Hoffman said the state Agency of Natural Resources’ educational programs have been a big success in slowing the insect’s spread, teaching the public how to identify infected trees or wood and how to treat it.
“There are landowners who might have ash in their forest. If we can slow the spread, it gives people more time to think about what they want to do, do some research, create a plan for their trees,” Hoffman said. “Maybe they want to do some logging and cut their healthy ash trees.”
Trees with emerald ash borer larvae living in their bark can resemble partially peeled carrots — chunks of bark are stripped off. Those marks come from woodpeckers flecking away in search of grub. Other indications of infestation include splitting bark, thinning crowns and D-shaped exit holes on the trunk.
If left untreated, the infestation dries out the wood and turns it brittle, useless for logging, liable to fall and ultimately dead.
In Calais, townspeople’s understanding of the hazards of sick trees has made it possible to plan tree removal on a broad scale.
“One of the things that strikes me about Calais is there’s a lot of interest in conservation and protection of natural resources,” said Kari Bradley, town administrator.
The town’s select board applied for an ash tree removal grant from the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program, a collaboration between the state and University of Vermont Extension. Bradley said there was no opposition from the public on the board’s unanimous decision.
“Calais has close to 80 miles of road, and there are somewhere (around) 3,000 ash trees along the right of way on those roads,” Bradley said.
Grant funding for the Urban and Community Forestry Program has changed due to “the shifting priorities of the current administration,” said Hoffman with a dry chuckle. “Is that a nice way of saying it?”
The Trump administration’s mass campaign to cut federal awards is a cause of “angst and concern,” Hoffman said, because although the program is state funded, “a lot of the work we actually do and the service we provide to Vermonters is through federally awarded grants.”
Other methods of managing the bug include injecting trees with a systemic insecticide, a process that can cost several hundred dollars every three years. It may seem pricey, but Hoffman argues that a tree could end up costing much more to take down than to vaccinate, especially if it caused damage on its way down.
For several years, the state has also been releasing natural predators to the emerald ash borer. A few species of wasp-like insects that lay eggs inside the borer’s larvae or eggs. It’s a biocontrol measure aimed “to try to reduce its density and to try to give the trees more of a chance,” Hoffman said.
Camila Van Order Gonzalez
Camila Van Order Gonzalez writes for the Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, on assignment for the Hardwick Gazette.
