Evidence continues to stack up
proving that trees are among our best friends who help us to enjoy healthier and
happier lives.
Trees give us better air to
breathe because their leaves draw in carbon monoxide and other toxic gases and
pollutants such as sulphur dioxides, nitrogen oxides, and even particulate
matter. Scientists say that a single tree can absorb 10 pounds of pollutants
every year.
That’s all stuff that trees save
us from breathing into our lungs. A U.S. Forest Service study calculated that
trees prevent 670,000 incidents of acute respiratory problems and save 850
human lives a year.
There’s an unfortunate flip side,
however. Another study, this one published by the American Journal of
Preventive Medicine, which says that the loss of millions of ash trees to the
emerald ash borer has increased respiratory and cardiovascular illness in some
U.S. states. Fewer trees, less air filtering.
The borer, a fairly recent
immigrant from Asia, bores under ash tree bark and sucks the life out of the
tree’s vascular system. This tree killing beetle was discovered in Michigan in 2002
and moved quickly into Ontario. It has killed tens of millions of ash trees in
24 U.S. states and Ontario and Quebec.
The Emerald Ash
Beetle has not been reported yet in Haliburton, says James Rogers, the county’s
forest conservation officer. He says the county is watching for early signs of
an infestation and urges residents to report any suspected sightings through the Invading Species Hotline at 1 800 563 7711.
The larvae of the borer have white worm-like
bodies and feed just under the bark of ash trees. The developed insects emerge
in summer as iridescent metallic green bugs which feed on the trees’ leaves.
They are very pretty to look at.
The EAB, as professional tree folks call the
borer, is an ecological and economic disaster. It is estimated to have killed
in the U.S. and Canada more than 100 million ash trees, which have to be felled
and disposed of before they fall down and damage power lines, property and
people.
There is some good news in all of this. It is
about how some bright people have come up with innovative ideas for disposing
of downed ash trees. Ideas that make use of the wood, create some jobs and save
taxpayer dollars.
When millions of ash trees started dying most
municipalities felled them and ran them through machines that turned them to
mulch. Grinding ash trees into chips for
mulch costs roughly $8 a tonne, plus as much as $100 a tonne to haul it to
landfill sites.
Some municipalities now auction, or donate, the
trees for other uses. Ash boards are as strong as oak and can be used for
furniture, decks and flooring. They can be used to make park benches,
landscaping timber, playground equipment – pretty well anything that is made
from wood.
Dead ash trees have value
because the larvae boring is just beneath the bark and does not affect the rest
of the wood.
Ash lumber also is being donated to school
woodworking classes and prison shops where it helps people learn woodworking
skills and brings in a few dollars from finished product sales.
Revenue from ash wood sales can be used by
municipalities to help pay the huge costs of removing dead ash from public
places.
In Illinois, hit especially hard by EAB, it has
been estimated that reclaimed ash wood could meet 30 per cent of the United
States’ hardwood needs, or roughly 3.8 billion board feet.
If and when EAB arrives in Haliburton it is not
expected to be as much a problem as in more southern areas like Toronto. James
Rogers notes that Haliburton forests have a lower percentage of ash than
Southern Ontario and the loss will be more ecological than economic.
These tree plagues are sent to try us. We have
seen over the years chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, beech bark beetle and
other lesser epidemics. All sad, but it is heartening to see the initiatives
being taken to make use of good wood felled by a bad situation.
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