The Columbia Press
4
Canopy: Government works to save trees
Continued from Page 1
possible for the tree to move
water and nutrients from the
roots to the leaves and back,
eventually killing it.
“We know from field tests
back East that emerald ash
borer will attack Oregon ash,”
Williams said. “Although not
an important timber species,
Oregon ash withstands flood-
ing, stabilizes banks against
erosion and provides crucial
habitat for wildlife. Losing it
will greatly harm the ecology
of wetlands and streamside
forests.”
The U.S. Department of Ag-
riculture’s Forest Service di-
vision is collaborating in the
effort to save Oregon ash by
storing the seed at its Dorena
Genetic Resource Center in
Cottage Grove.
Some of the seed will be
put in long-term storage and
some will be sent to field re-
search sites in the Midwest
already infested with emer-
ald ash borer, said Richard
Sniezko, who holds a doctor-
ate in agricultural research.
Researchers there will plant
Oregon ash to see if any of the
seedlings show natural resis-
tance to the pest.
If they do, seeds from those
same batches could be sown
and the resulting seedlings
used in restoration of natural
areas, Sniezko said.
“The hope is that we might
be able to have some resis-
tant trees already growing
in the landscape by the time
March 4, 2022
emerald ash borer gets
to be quite rare, there
to Oregon,” he said.
is a real danger that
If emerald ash borer
those few surviving
wipes out Oregon ash
trees won’t have the full
in the future and is then
range of genes a spe-
successfully controlled,
cies has built up over
the stored seeds could
hundreds of thousands
be used to reintroduce Sniezko or millions of years,”
Oregon ash in all the
Sniezko said. “This ef-
places it once grew. Or if the fort is insurance against that
pest becomes entrenched, kind of genetic loss.”
as seems likely, then crosses
The most likely way the pest
could be made with the few will arrive is through people
resistant trees to build genet- bringing in firewood, un-
ically diverse stocks of resis- aware that it is from trees in-
tant trees.
fested with emerald ash borer
“Since resistance is likely larvae, Williams said. That’s
why he urges people not to
transport firewood from one
area to the next.
“Buy it where you plan to
burn it,” he said.
The Role of Red Alder
Oregon Ash isn’t the only
tree important to the state
ecosystem.
The Lower Nehalem Wa-
tershed Council is sponsor-
ing a virtual presentation
on the Role of Red Alder in
the Oregon Coast Range
at 7 p.m. Thursday, March
10. The red ash is common
in the Nehalem Watershed
and throughout the coast
range.
The talk will be led by
Andrew Bluhm, director of
Oregon State University’s
Hardwood Silviculture Co-
operative. He is an expert
on the red alder, a founda-
tional tree in the region.
The free talk will be
live on Facebook (face-
book.com/lnwc1) and
Zoom (us02web.zoom.
us/j/86320883649). For
more information, visit the
council’s website, lnwc@
nehalemtel.net.
Warrenton
Community Library
160 S. Main Ave.
10-6 Mon-Fri
10-2 Saturdays