Alna Couple Looks Out for Invasive Emerald Ash Borer

Concerned for the health of ash trees on their property and around the state, Darcie and Thomas Hutchins, of Alna, have stepped up to help the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry with its efforts to keep the emerald ash borer out of Maine. The couple will observe a vulnerable ash tree on their property for the presence of the invasive species.

The wood-boring emerald ash borer is a beetle native to China, Japan, Russia, and Korea and threatens injury and death to all of Maine’s ash tree species. First found in North America in Michigan in 2002, the beetle infects ash trees in 25 states and two Canadian provinces, including Maine’s close neighbors of Quebec, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

Emerald ash borers often spread through the movement of firewood, increasing the risk of their entering Maine’s forests as seasonal visitors come from out of state to appreciate Maine’s natural bounty.

The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry keeps a watchful eye on the presence of emerald ash borers by creating trap trees that aim to lure in any existing beetles and confirm their presence.

Trap trees are girdled, or stripped of a portion of their bark, to heighten their stress, which makes them more attractive to emerald ash borers. When winter arrives, trap trees are cut down and inspected by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

Darcie Hutchins strips an ash tree of its bark to make it more attractive to the invasive emerald ash borer. The beetle has not yet been found in Maine but is an increasing concern for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. (Photo courtesy Darcie and Thomas Hutchins)

Last year, the department made trap trees out of 24 ash trees around the state and detected no presence of emerald ash borers.

Darcie Hutchins has been fascinated with insects since a young age, and she took a class about invasive insects through the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry back in March. She recently received a letter from the department requesting environmentally conscious citizens to girdle ash trees in summer 2015 for inspection in the colder months.

Dutch elm disease took seven elms on Darcie and Thomas Hutchins’ property in the 14 years the couple has lived there.

“Personally, we have many ash trees on our property with several near the house,” Darcie Hutchins said. “It would be a significant loss if the emerald ash borer killed them.”

Before deciding to help out the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Darcie and Thomas Hutchins had intended to cut down the small ash that they selected as a trap tree.

Darcie Hutchins said the girdling process was easier than she expected. She and her husband cut through layers of bark around the trunk’s circumference with a draw shave and a paring knife, peeling off the bark to expose the underlying sapwood.

While tagging other ashes near the trap tree, Darcie and Thomas Hutchins investigated the monetary value of individual trees to put a number on the emerald ash borer’s potential damage. Ash wood is important to Maine’s forestry industry, and each tree provides something valuable, dead or alive. Darcie and Thomas Hutchins calculated $353 in environmental benefits for one of their property’s trees.

“Personally, for us, we would lose many trees on our property, losing shade, property value, and habitat for wildlife,” Darcie Hutchins said.

Approximately 1 inch long and lustrous green, emerald ash borers eat ash tree leaves, bore deep into the tree’s trunk, and lay their eggs. The pests do their worst damage during their larval phase, tunneling through the tree’s inner bark as they feed off it and inhibit the tree from performing water and nutrient transportation.

To learn more about the emerald ash borer, visit www.maine.gov/dacf/php/caps/EAB/index.shtml. To report an emerald ash borer sighting, call 287-3891.