Park crews discovered the beetles last week in a picnic area at Carriage Hill Park located at 7800 Shull Road.
“We confirmed it was the ash borer and found it to be pretty well established in woods near by,” Nolan said. “You can’t stop it.”
The ash borer attacks the layer of the tree that transports nutrients, slowly killing the tree. It is often discovered by the D-shaped holes borer larva leave in the tree’s bark.
Five species of ash tree, all susceptible to the borer, make up an estimated 10 to 15 percent of the 10,000 acres of forest in the Five Rivers Metroparks system.
“In the next five to seven years, we could have thousands of dead trees,” Nolan said. “It’s terrible.”
Nolan said individual trees can be treated, but it's costly and not practical for a park system. Treatment of a substantial tree would cost an estimated $700 per year.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture announced last July, the bug that kills ash trees within five years of infestation was spotted in the Beavercreek.
For Five Rivers MetroParks, the big cost related to the emerald ash borer will come several years from now when dead trees become public hazards and must be removed.
It has taken seven years for the ash borer to fully infest the Metroparks of the Toledo Area system. Over the next two years, thousands of dead ash trees will be removed at a cost of $1.3 million, funded by a American Recovery/Reinvestment Act grant.
“It’s pretty devastating,” said Tim Gallaher, a land management supervisor for Toledo Metroparks. “As soon as a tree is dead it becomes susceptible to wind shear. Once dead, they become unstable in three to four years.”
The ash borer was first discovered in Ohio in 2003 and infestations have been identified in more than 67 counties.
To slow the spread of the pest, the Ohio Department of Agriculture issued quarantines for infested counties making it illegal to move ash trees, parts of an ash tree and all hardwood firewood out of infested counties. Local counties under the quarantine include Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Warren, Darke, Butler and Clark.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2362 or josmith@DaytonDailyNews.com.
About the Author