Protect Your Trees from Emerald Ash Borer

Mountain Pine Beetle is responsible for devastating much of our Colorado mountain forests. Experts believe Emerald Ash Borer will do the equivalent to our urban forests, with an estimated one in five trees being ash. Predicting when or if the pest would reach us proved impossible, as it surprised everyone when it was found in Boulder, CO. According to the Colorado Department of Agriculture, this green metallic beetle was found by Boulder forestry staff Monday, September 23rd, 2013.

EAB is considered the most destructive forest pest ever seen in North America. It is responsible for killing more than 50 million ash trees in over 20 states. Just in the Denver area alone, there are 1.45 million ash trees at risk. If you have an ash tree, there are preventative measures you can take.

Swingle strongly advises the following actions and services for homeowners and property managers:

• First, consult an expert, such as a Swingle Landscape Care Consultant, to verify ash tree inventory, evaluate the trees for infestation and make custom recommendations.
• Do not plant new ash trees. Good substitutes for ash include maples, lindens, honeylocusts, hackberrys, oaks and elms.
• Do not move firewood made from ash trees out of the area.
• Prune dead branches. Dead branches weaken the tree; an unhealthy tree is much less likely to survive an Emerald Ash Borer attack. This activity is also timely as we move deeper into autumn, as dead branches on trees are a risk of breakage should we experience early winter storms on Colorado’s Front Range.
• A likely prescription from an arborist is a trunk injection, to be completed in the spring of 2014, within a 15-mile radius of any detected emerald ash borer infestation. At present, this includes communities in Boulder, Lyons, Longmont, Niwot, Erie, Lafayette, Superior, Broomfield and Westminster.
• Additional recommendations may include tree fertilization and lilac/ash borer or ash bark beetle spray.