Check you Woodlots now for dead/dying Ash trees

Now's the time to check your woodlot for signs.
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/forests/insects-diseases/13377
We received a booklet from the Ministry of Natural resources regarding the Emerald Ash borer and it is having an impact on our woodlot. The link above provides information on the Emerald Ash Borer and it's impact on Ash trees throughout Ontario. Our own woodlot is impacted quite a bit this past year, with a number of trees dead or dying.

Some short term positive impacts:we will have many Ash trees that can be cut down for firewood. Cavity nesting birds will also benefit from this as some of the dead Ash trees will be able to be used as nesting sites.

Long term, many of the other tree species will be positively impacted as the canopy opens up and more sunlight is available. Other wildlife will also be positively impacted as the Ash trees fall and provide cover and nutrients. We are fortunate that our woodlot has a fairly diverse number of tree species.

Natural Resources has warned that 15 to 20 years from now, many Ontario woodlots will be full of Ash holes.

It is up there with the Dutch Elms disease, huge groups of trees are being wiped out and it did not stop this past winter.

Ash does make good fuel for boiling maple syrup though.

The good news, the blue ash is not affected. My neighbour lost 10 acres of green ash about 3-4 years ago. I lost all my mature trees.

Happy April Fool's Day!!! Read the last line of my post!

All of then other information included in the thread is correct. I like many others with a woodlot with Ash trees, now have to clean up the dead and dying trees. Fortunately Ash is great firewood. We are fortunate that we have many other types of trees in our woods: Black Cherry, Hard and Soft Maple, Eastern Hemlock, Beech, Aspen, Yellow Birch and various trees that we planted over the last 25 years
(Cedar, Red Oak, White Pine, 3 types of Spruce, Black Locust and Butternut. in all, almost 6,000 trees)

we have been cutting dead ash for years now ,it makes great firewood as it drys well standing .most tops break off and fall but the trunks dry out real nice ,,Dutch

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Originally Posted by JMatthews

Happy April Fool's Day!!! Read the last line of my post!

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may be april fools, but it is a reality... all the elm trees up here are dying off, along with the iron wood... maples are almost all either hollow or starting to rot in the center... not a good outlook...

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Originally Posted by fishy steve

may be april fools, but it is a reality... all the elm trees up here are dying off, along with the iron wood... maples are almost all either hollow or starting to rot in the center... not a good outlook...

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This is true. The outlook is bleak.
The elm only seem to make it to a certain size and they conk out. I did find a small patch of elm missed by dutch elm disease. There are about 20 trees in total near Renfrew, the smallest of which would be a meager 40" Dia.

It seems everything is under attack. White birch are being decimated by the acorn woodpeckers, ash have to deal with the borers, maple are very sensitive to acid rain. The list goes on. Soon we will be left with poplar, balsam and tag alders.

I own 50 acres of bush where I live. I estimate I have 40% ash, 20% soft maple, 20% elm and 20% poplar. All my elms are dying and though I have not seen the effect of the ash borer on my ash trees yet, I know its just a madder of time. My bush lot is sure going to look different 5 years from now.

For me around Bancroft I have noticed a lot of spruce especially blue dying off. Red on the bottom and works it's way up. Bunches of standing dead red trees. I notice it now on the drive up all over. All ages and in all densities.

not trying to be an ashole high jacking with soft wood but kinda related.

Saw a guy the other day that I followed up had a Durham licence plate cover and a trailer behind him full of wood. I followed him up from Durham all the way to bancroft. Some people just don't get not moving wood. I understand people need to stay warm but so do people who live up there that don't want beatles and borers.

If you have a lot of ash its a good idea to start culling it hard now with an eye toward getting the species that will survive established, otherwise it'll be a pretty sad looking bush in a decade.

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Originally Posted by DaleK

If you have a lot of ash its a good idea to start culling it hard now with an eye toward getting the species that will survive established, otherwise it'll be a pretty sad looking bush in a decade.

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I started cutting down Ash trees last fall and I'll be continuing this spring( Once the snow melts!). There are some trees that are near ravines that I'll be leaving to serve as nesting sites for the many cavity nesting birds. It's a shame as some of our Ash trees are quite large - about a meter across.

There is no stopping the ash borer. There is no magic pill for this plague.
I live in Chatham/Kent and the feds came here and cut all the ash in an attempt to stop it. They cut the ash and cipped them up.
What a bunch of dummies.
The ash borer can fly over 3 miles in one hop in dead calm.
With a 20 mile an hour tail wind this plague out maneuvered the feds right from day 1.

There is also recent research that shows the ash borer may like more than just our ash.
Resistance is futile.

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Originally Posted by Ont_Excal

There is also recent research that shows the ash borer may like more than just our ash.
Resistance is futile.

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They will do a number on sugar maple as well.

I'm down in Mississauga at my brothers visiting right now, we walked to the neighbourhood pub last night and passed a local park with a school...you should see the amount of cut n stacked ash logs just waiting for the chipper, really sad you can't take it for fire wood due to the EAB...what a waste.

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Originally Posted by oaknut

They will do a number on sugar maple as well.

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Don't tell me that. I need them for syrup. Ash trees in our bush are dying from Ash yellows. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_yellows

Ash borer has been found in Byng Park, probably brought in by campers firewood, so I'll get it shortly. So far no D shaped holes here.

Sent three loads of poplar for pulp this spring and going to be cutting a lot of beech this summer from the look of my bush.

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Originally Posted by Pat32rf

Sent three loads of poplar for pulp this spring and going to be cutting a lot of beech this summer from the look of my bush.

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If you are are cutting beech only one is best to sell it all for fuel wood. You can sell clean beech logs for $700 a tandem as firewood or get roughly $450 at the mill gates.

Oh the beech will be going in my woodsheds..... Last year we burnt a lot of maple that wasn't quite as dry as it should have been. The ends of the sticks actually went mouldy in the woodshed.... Cut in the summer, stored as logs over winter, blocked, split and piles last summer. Mouldy by frost last fall, still too wet this February... We have never had this problem before....

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Originally Posted by Pat32rf

Oh the beech will be going in my woodsheds..... Last year we burnt a lot of maple that wasn't quite as dry as it should have been. The ends of the sticks actually went mouldy in the woodshed.... Cut in the summer, stored as logs over winter, blocked, split and piles last summer. Mouldy by frost last fall, still too wet this February... We have never had this problem before....

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Lots of folks had this problem. The summer that wasn't last year made for very damp conditions.

I love burning beech. There's nothing cleaner.

yup this year was the wetest my wood has ever bin, and it shouldve bin the driest as the bulk of it had 2 years to dry...

second the beech... if you decide to send it to a mill, truck it my way ;) lol