Lexington, KY - Most of us who live in Lexington probably don't think that we're living in the midst of a forest, but we are: an urban forest, a canopy of trees that creates such beauty and cools our streets and buildings, mitigating the urban "heat island effect."
That leafy canopy is composed of many different species of trees with, Ash accounting for about eight to 10 percent of the total. A 2007 LFUCG report estimated that 10,000 ash trees grow within the urban service area. Now we are in danger of losing a good many of those trees.
The culprit is the Emerald Ash Borer, a metallic green insect less than one inch long. In the spring, the female insects lay their eggs on the bark of ash trees. The hatched larvae bore into the bark of the ash trees and feed on the trees' inner layers, cutting off the flow of water and nutrients to the trees' upper limbs. Dormant over the winter, the insects exit the trees the next spring, leaving distinctive D-shaped holes along the tree trunks.
Karen Angelucci, chair of Lexington's Tree Board, said, "This insect has caused the death of millions of ash trees in the upper Midwest, and we don't want that to happen here."
As a result of confirmed sightings of the Emerald Ash Borer in Fayette and other north central Kentucky counties, Fayette County and 19 other counties in the region have been placed under a quarantine. This quarantine regulates the transportation of any firewood, ash trees, and ash tree lumber. Anyone using firewood within the state (for example, for a campfire) should burn firewood that is already onsite - not transport it from elsewhere.
The first step in countering the Emerald Ash Borer's presence is getting an accurate count of the ash trees growing here. That count is needed, Angelucci said, "so we can ask for funding to treat them."
Toward that goal, members of the Tree Board and other volunteers are being recruited to walk the city's streets, counting ash trees and marking them with lime green plastic tape.
Angelucci said that the tape "is part of the Tree Board's public awareness campaign to alert homeowners that they have an ash tree and they should consider treating it or be prepared to remove and replace it."
Angelucci wants homeowners to know "how important trees are and that the ash population is a significant one ... it is their responsibility to maintain their trees in the city rights of way, whether it makes sense or not, [that] is our city ordinance."
The Tree Board chair wishes that people would "realize, especially in neighborhoods totally lined with ash trees, how hot their walks will be when the trees are not there. They should consider a replacement tree or be committed to treating the trees for 10-plus years, until the EAB has faded out or moved on."
Smaller ash trees can be treated with an insecticide drench (chemicals dissolved in water) poured around the base of the tree every year until the threat of attack is over. Larger trees must be treated by certified specialists. The cost runs $10 per inch of tree diameter, or $300 or more for the largest trees. Having sufficient funds to treat the many ash trees on public land will be a problem.
What You Can Do To Help Save Lexington's Ash Trees
1. Read the city's Web page, www.lexingtonky.gov/eab, and the UK Department of Entomology's page, http://pest.ca.uky.edu/EXT/EAB/welcome.html, for more information about the Emerald Ash Borer and caring for ash trees.
2. Call Karen Angelucci at (859) 338-7857 to join other volunteers who are counting and identifying local ash trees.
3. If you own an ash tree and want to save it, learn how to treat a smaller tree yourself, or see the city's Web page for a list of certified arborists who can assess and treat larger trees.
4. For more information, call the Office of the State Entomologist John Obrycki at (859) 257-5838 or UK's Extension Entomologist Lee Townsend at (859) 257-7455 or the city's Urban Forestry Department at (859) 258-3451.