Emerald Ash Borer makes news in Vermont… AGAIN!
As Vermont loses its ash trees, towns race to stop the beetle that’s the culprit by Emma Malinak July 25, 2024 “Vermont’s environmental experts are imagining a future without ash trees — and that future isn’t far away. It’s all because the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle from Asia, is destroying ash trees from…
As Vermont loses its ash trees, towns race to stop the beetle that’s the culprit
by Emma Malinak
July 25, 2024
“Vermont’s environmental experts are imagining a future without ash trees — and that future isn’t far away.
It’s all because the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle from Asia, is destroying ash trees from the inside out. The beetles’ larvae burrow into and feed on inner layers of bark, damaging the system trees use to transport water and nutrients throughout their branches and leaves.
The beetles, commonly referred to as EAB, have been reported in 72 municipalities across 13 of Vermont’s 14 counties, according to the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.
But the map of detections is on its way “from looking like Swiss cheese, with little pockets of infestations, to being completely covered,” said Elise Schadler, program manager for the department’s Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program.
“Eventually there’s going to be no ash left, or at least very few. EAB isn’t going away,” Schadler said.”
Greg Ranallo
From the classroom to the trees
Greg Ranallo has been working with trees since he was 19 years old — a passion that began long before it became a profession. After earning a master's degree in education and teaching high school social studies in his native Minnesota, Greg ultimately followed the calling he'd had since boyhood and built Teacher's Tree Service into one of the Champlain Valley's most trusted arboriculture companies. As he puts it, "I was always more a tree guy who was teaching than a teacher who did tree work."
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