Local cities and governments are trying to get a handle on the … · Local cities and governments...
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2007 31 small, green insect with an insatiable appetite for bark tissue has impacted two of the country’s most popular recreations and has arrived on the radar screens of local golf course owners, managers and superintendents. From architectural and strategic standpoints, ash trees, like this stand at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, maintain pivotal roles at courses throughout Illinois. A By James Raia The culprit is the emerald ash borer, a beetle whose short tenure in the United States has resulted in the death of an estimated 25 million ash trees across several states, most of them in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region. For major league baseball players who swing wooden bats, it’s likely they swing Louisville Sluggers made with ash cultivated from forests on the Pennsylvania-New York border. For golfers in those states as well as in Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, Indiana, Virginia, Wisconsin and Illinois who enjoy the shade and majesty of tree-lined courses, it’s likely they view ash trees on many of their favorite layouts. It’s also likely the view could dramatically change because of an approximately 1 / 2-inch by 1 / 6-inch creature sometimes called the Green Menace. Most Illinois golf courses haven’t yet had issues with their ash trees. Nearly a dozen courses in various parts of the state contacted by Chicago District Golfer reported no beetle damage, while others expressed little concern. Yet other course officials stressed the problem is imminent. Cook and DuPage counties, the two largest in the state, currently are under quarantine, along with other Illinois counties. “It’s here,” said Brian Green, golf course superintendent at Sunset Valley Golf Club in Highland Park. “We identified about 200-300 trees in the spring, including some off-course trees still on the property. We’ve treated about 10 percent of trees in certain areas we’re hoping to save. But it’s an ever- changing situation and hard to 100 percent detect. Unfortunately, we expect to lose the rest.” Native to China, Japan, Korea and parts of Russia, emerald ash borers are thought to have been accidentally transported to the United States in the mid-1990s aboard cargo ships using the Great Lakes as shipping ports. The insects eat vast amounts of vascular tissue just under the bark. As a result, the infected trees can’t receive and properly process nutrients and water. One of the problems is that ash trees can be infested for more than a year before symptoms become evident. Early infestation signs are thin or yellow leaves and D-shaped borer exit holes in the bark or branches as well as suckering around the main trunk. Since the beetles sometimes can’t eat all the bark at the base of a tree, new shoots sometimes grow. An infested ash tree usually dies within three years, and even after infected ash trees are cut down, the new shoots often still grow. A study at North Shore Country Club in Glenview is evaluating a spray as a pre-emptive measure against future infestation. Local cities and governments are trying to get a handle on the emerald ash borer and its potential widespread damage. PHOTO BY DAN DINELLI, CGCS/NORTH SHORE COUNTRY CLUB 30 PHOTO BY DAN DINELLI, CGCS/NORTH SHORE COUNTRY CLUB
Transcript of Local cities and governments are trying to get a handle on the … · Local cities and governments...
S EPTEM B ER/OCTOB ER 2 0 0 7 31
small, green insect with an insatiable appetitefor bark tissue has impacted two of the country’s most popular recreations and hasarrived on the radar screens of local golf course owners,managers and superintendents.
From architectural and strategicstandpoints, ash trees, like this stand at North Shore CountryClub in Glenview, maintain pivotal roles at courses throughout Illinois.
ABy James Raia
The culprit is the emerald ash borer, a beetle whose shorttenure in the United States has resulted in the death of anestimated 25 million ash trees across several states, most ofthem in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region.
For major league baseball players who swing woodenbats, it’s likely they swing Louisville Sluggers made with ashcultivated from forests on the Pennsylvania-New York border.
For golfers in those states as well as in Ohio, Michigan,Maryland, Indiana, Virginia, Wisconsin and Illinois whoenjoy the shade and majesty of tree-lined courses, it’s likelythey view ash trees on many of their favorite layouts.
It’s also likely the view could dramatically change becauseof an approximately 1⁄2-inch by 1⁄6-inch creature sometimescalled the Green Menace.
Most Illinois golf courses haven’t yet had issues with theirash trees. Nearly a dozen courses in various parts of the statecontacted by Chicago District Golfer reported no beetle damage, while others expressed little concern.
Yet other course officials stressed the problem is imminent. Cook and DuPage counties, the two largest in the state, currently are under quarantine, along with otherIllinois counties.
“It’s here,” said Brian Green, golf course superintendentat Sunset Valley Golf Club in Highland Park. “We identifiedabout 200-300 trees in the spring, including some off-coursetrees still on the property. We’ve treated about 10 percent oftrees in certain areas we’re hoping to save. But it’s an ever-changing situation and hard to 100 percent detect.
Unfortunately, we expect to lose the rest.”Native to China, Japan, Korea and parts of Russia,
emerald ash borers are thought to have been accidentallytransported to the United States in the mid-1990s aboardcargo ships using the Great Lakes as shipping ports.
The insects eat vast amounts of vascular tissue justunder the bark. As a result, the infected trees can’t receiveand properly process nutrients and water.
One of the problems is that ash trees can be infested formore than a year before symptoms become evident. Earlyinfestation signs are thin or yellow leaves and D-shapedborer exit holes in the bark or branches as well as suckering around the main trunk.
Since the beetles sometimes can’t eat all the bark atthe base of a tree, new shoots sometimes grow. Aninfested ash tree usually dies within three years, andeven after infected ash trees are cut down, the newshoots often still grow.
A study at North Shore Country Club in Glenview is evaluating aspray as a pre-emptive measure against future infestation.
Local cities and governments are trying to get a handle on the emerald ash borer and its potential widespread damage.
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The first U.S. emerald ash borer infes-tation was discovered in Canton, Mich.,about 30 miles west of Detroit, in June2002, and the problem has sinceincreased exponentially.
“This invasive insect does not care whether it eats a very healthy ash tree or an ash tree that was alreadystressed and in decline,” said RichardHentschel, a green industry program spe-cialist at the University of IllinoisExtension. “If you have a native pest and anative ash tree, over generations, the ashtree builds up a resistance. It gets to thepoint where the insect invades the tree,but it doesn’t kill the tree.
“But the emerald ash borer doesn’tcare. It has a ravenous appetite and in afew, short months it will kill an entiretree, a very large tree.”
According to Luke Cella, executivedirector of the Midwest Association ofGolf Course Superintendents, ash treesrepresent about 20 percent of the treesfound on golf courses in Illinois. In all,more than 130 million ash trees exist in
the state. According to Derek Settle,director of turfgrass programs for theCDGA and a trained plant pathologist,“Ash trees are numerous on Chicago golfcourses in part because they replaced theAmerican elm, which were decimatedduring the ’70s and ’80s by a fungal wiltcalled Dutch elm disease.”
If the tragedies experienced in otherstates continue in Illinois, Green’s assess-ment of his golf courses’ likely issueswould represent only a small portion ofanother potential catastrophe. Consider:
•In 2004, the beetle was confirmedin Indiana, Maryland and Virginia. Thelatter two states received contaminatedtrees from a Michigan nursery.
•In September 2005, officials inMichigan announced the beetles’ infestation had extended past the Straitsof Mackinac, the area between LakeMichigan and Lake Huron, and hadspread from the state’s Lower Peninsulato the Upper Peninsula.
•In June 2006, the ash borer was dis-covered near Lake Lilly, Ill., and a month
later, infestations were confirmed inWilmette, Evanston and Winnetka.
•In June 2007, the insect was dis-covered in Cranberry Township, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and nearYoungstown, Ohio, according to U.S.and Pennsylvania Department ofAgriculture officials.
“They’re devastating,” Melissa Brewer,spokesperson for the Ohio Department ofAgriculture, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “It only takes one piece of infestedfirewood to kill millions of ash trees.”
Numerous national and interstategovernmental agency programs havebeen implemented to help deter and per-haps stem further devastation that couldspread throughout North America. Butthe process has been frustrating, compli-cated, costly and the insect has not beeneasily defeated.
Last February, the commission boardof the Homewood-Flossmoor ParkDistrict approved its Ash Tree/EmeraldAsh Borer Policy. The policy, submittedby Dave Ward, superintendent of Coyote
• = Emerald Ash Borer
Run Golf Course, and Keith Gorczyca,superintendent of Parks & Planning,includes risk assessment, training staff,tracking the spread of the insect andexamining trees for infestation.
Indian Hill Club in Winnetka hasfocused attention on what it terms “key” trees: those that impact the layoutof the golf hole, and young trees, whichaccept treatment better, according tomost research.
The University of Wisconsin-Madisonrecently began a test program that usesregistered insecticides as a pre-emptivemethod as a means of protecting ashtrees from future infestations. Althoughearly results appear to be promising, the study is expected to take three yearsto completely evaluate the performanceof the treatments.
In early August, Illinois Gov. RodBlagojevich announced a plan to helpcontrol the pest. Bankrolled with $7.6 million for Illinois and Wisconsin bythe U.S. Departure of Agriculture, theplan will hire additional staff, continuesurveys in infested areas, remove treesand conduct outreach and education.
Additionally, an advisory commit-tee, comprised of experts from theIllinois Department of Agriculture, theIllinois Department of NaturalResources, the USDA–Animal PlantHealth Inspection Service, the USDA-
Forest Service, the University of Illinoisand the Morton Arboretum will refineplans for control and removal efforts.
In 2004, the USDA committed tospend $40 million for eradication afterthe insect was discovered in Indiana.Another $350 million is expected to bespent on the issue through 2016.
“The current practice of eradicationof ash trees to control the movement ofthe emerald ash borer has not been assuccessful as hoped,” said Hentschel.Federal and state authorities are nowconsidering the release of a host specif-ic parasitic wasp to manage the borerpopulation, along with the continua-tion of the quarantine on the move-ment of ash trees or parts thereof andany product that contains ash wood.
Paul Voykin, the longtime superin-tendent of golf at Briarwood CountryClub in Deerfield, Ill., spoke about poten-tial insect devastation on his course.
“We just got the trees inspected andthere’s not a problem,” said Voykin. “Weonly have about 12 ash trees on thecourse, including two majestic treesbehind the ninth hole. I remember planting them when they were about 6 feet tall. I don’t know what we would dowithout them.”
James Raia is a freelance writer currently living in Sacramento, Calif.
