Vintagedeputy
07-24-2007, 12:45 PM
Big-league lumber under siege
Beetle destroying millions of ash trees in northern states
By Justice B. Hill / MLB.com
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Serpentine-shaped tunnels under the bark are a sign of infestation by the Asian Emerald Ash Borer. (MLB.com)
Jason Michaels calls himself an ash man.
"I've always liked ash," the Indians left fielder said. "It's a different vibration sometimes when you hit with it. Guys say maple is harder. I mean, that's all theory, though.
"I just feel better with ash."
But in a baseball world tilting toward maple bats, Michaels might have to come around to the dark side because of a shiny, green import from the Far East that threatens to wipe out ash trees.
The emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle with an insatiable appetite for ash, has infested 100 percent of the ash trees in southeastern Michigan, spread into Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and found its way into western Pennsylvania in recent weeks.
Unless entomologists and agriculturalists can find a way to slow or stop the infestation, the ash bats that Michaels favors might be unavailable in years ahead. The ash, specifically the harder white ash from northern states, risks becoming an extinct species.
That's not good news for companies that use ash, and few companies use more of this hardwood than Hillerich & Bradsby Co., parent of the venerable Louisville Slugger brand and the largest supplier of wood bats in the United States.
Of the 1.6 million wood bats the company makes each year, about 80 percent of them are made from white ash harvested from trees in eastern Pennsylvania and New York, two regions where a cool climate produces a harder, more durable wood.
"A lot of this stuff is just nature," said Chuck Schupp, the director of the professional baseball division for Louisville Slugger. "You don't see ash and maple trees that you can use growing in Florida; you don't see it in certain parts of the country that you can use. It's just the way it is."
He said what kills the ash tree isn't the ash borer but its larvae. They tunnel under the bark and feast inside, choking off the nutrition and water that allow a tree to grow. The feeding cuts out the plumbing inside the tree and kills it within two to five years of an infestation.
In a state like Ohio with 3.8 billion white ash trees, the emerald ash borer, scientifically known as Agrilus Planipennis, poses a threat to the environment and the economy, which is why state officials are taking an aggressive approach to stopping the beetle's spread, said Melissa Brewer, spokeswoman for Ohio's emerald ash borer program.
Symptoms of Infestation by
the Emerald Ash Borer
• Distinct, D-shaped exit holes in the bark• Serpentine-shaped tunnels under the bark
on the surface of the wood• Young sprout growth at the base of the tree• Unusual activity by woodpeckers• Thinning canopy of the tree• Vertical splits in the barkCourtesy Ohio Department of Agriculture
So far, neither area has displayed visible signs of a beetle infestation. But the way the infestation has spread, both regions might be in the beetle's path of destruction soon.
"We're concerned -- to a degree," Schupp said. "It hasn't affected our supply of product yet. But, yes, we're aware of what's going on. We're looking at what'll we need to do, say, if this becomes an issue where we have no supplies of ash."
Since the first sighting of the emerald ash borer near Canton, Mich., in 2002, the beetle has eaten its way through metro parks there and forests elsewhere at an unsettling pace.
Michigan alone has lost close to 30 million trees, and those infested elsewhere with the emerald ash borer are condemned to the same fate, said Andrew Storer, an entomologist at Michigan Technology University and an authority on the emerald ash borer. Storer said no evidence suggests the ash borer infests other tree species. But researchers are continuing their studies to make certain other trees aren't at risk.
"Trees have natural defense mechanisms against insects," Storer said. "But, apparently, this particular insect was able to overcome the defense of ash trees and find them to be suitable in terms of nutrition."
Using money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ohio has spent more than $20 million in studying the ash borer and its effects. Brewer said more federal money will likely be poured into stopping the infestation.
"This is a big concern for Ohio, because one out of every 10 trees [in the state] is an ash tree," Brewer said. "So there's a lot at stake -- environmentally and economically."
In neighboring Pennsylvania, officials are in the early stages of researching the ash borer. It was first found in trees there in late June, said Walter Blosser, plant inspection program specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
Blosser said the infestation has spread beyond an area designated as ground zero, a site near Cranberry Township, Pa. He said state officials might not know for a few more weeks how far-reaching this infestation is.
Blosser doesn't view the loss of ash as frightening a prospect as a similar loss of oak, which seems resistant to the ash borer.
"The ash component in Pennsylvania is a small percentage overall," Blosser said. "Ash, aside from an industry such as baseball, is not a high-value wood. Economically speaking, it's not as big a hit as if it was another species."
To slow the infestation, USDA has quarantined ash, issuing fines to prevent the transport of ash products outside infested areas. Even so, the infestation of ash continues to creep eastward.
Researchers such as Blosser are unsure, however, what the environmental effects of a landscape devoid of ash trees might be like.
That's not a thought officials with Hillerich & Bradsby want to entertain, Schupp said. In its 120-year history, the company has explored or used other hardwoods, such as hickory, oak and beech in an effort to find complements to its lineup of wood bats, which players such as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Ken Griffey Jr. have wielded over the decades.
"Northern white ash is the wood everybody keeps going back to," said Rick Redman, the company's vice president of communications.
In the past three years, maple has slid ahead of ash (52 percent to 48 percent) as the preferred wood of Major Leaguers, and Redman and Schupp point to the Barry Bonds factor and the belief by some players that maple's hardness is superior to ash as reasons.
"But when you get right down to it, guys make choices on a lot of variables -- not just hardness," Schupp said. "Ask Derek Jeter why he doesn't use maple. Ask guys why they do use it.
"Every player you ask, you're going to get a different variable answer."
Ballplayers such as Michaels and teammate Ryan Garko would agree. They are the only two players with the Indians who are ash men. They've heard all the talk about the hardness of maple, which is a more expensive wood, and how balls seem to rocket off a maple bat. They aren't listening to the hype.
"I've used ash bats my whole career," Garko said. "Sometimes maple bats break, even when you don't get jammed. I've had bad maple bats that just break. Ash is pretty true, in my experience.
"Everyone has different opinions."
An opinion that has drawn a hard consensus, though, is that the emerald ash borer threatens the ash species. What that threat means for the long haul, no one can say for certain. "But we should be very concerned," Blosser said. "Ash is locally a common species, and it's an important component of forestry landscape. It's tremendously valuable."
Beetle destroying millions of ash trees in northern states
By Justice B. Hill / MLB.com
http://mlb.mlb.com/images/news/ticketinfo_98x33.gif (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/tickets/index.jsp)
http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2007/07/23/F7PXy57s.jpg
Serpentine-shaped tunnels under the bark are a sign of infestation by the Asian Emerald Ash Borer. (MLB.com)
Jason Michaels calls himself an ash man.
"I've always liked ash," the Indians left fielder said. "It's a different vibration sometimes when you hit with it. Guys say maple is harder. I mean, that's all theory, though.
"I just feel better with ash."
But in a baseball world tilting toward maple bats, Michaels might have to come around to the dark side because of a shiny, green import from the Far East that threatens to wipe out ash trees.
The emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle with an insatiable appetite for ash, has infested 100 percent of the ash trees in southeastern Michigan, spread into Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and found its way into western Pennsylvania in recent weeks.
Unless entomologists and agriculturalists can find a way to slow or stop the infestation, the ash bats that Michaels favors might be unavailable in years ahead. The ash, specifically the harder white ash from northern states, risks becoming an extinct species.
That's not good news for companies that use ash, and few companies use more of this hardwood than Hillerich & Bradsby Co., parent of the venerable Louisville Slugger brand and the largest supplier of wood bats in the United States.
Of the 1.6 million wood bats the company makes each year, about 80 percent of them are made from white ash harvested from trees in eastern Pennsylvania and New York, two regions where a cool climate produces a harder, more durable wood.
"A lot of this stuff is just nature," said Chuck Schupp, the director of the professional baseball division for Louisville Slugger. "You don't see ash and maple trees that you can use growing in Florida; you don't see it in certain parts of the country that you can use. It's just the way it is."
He said what kills the ash tree isn't the ash borer but its larvae. They tunnel under the bark and feast inside, choking off the nutrition and water that allow a tree to grow. The feeding cuts out the plumbing inside the tree and kills it within two to five years of an infestation.
In a state like Ohio with 3.8 billion white ash trees, the emerald ash borer, scientifically known as Agrilus Planipennis, poses a threat to the environment and the economy, which is why state officials are taking an aggressive approach to stopping the beetle's spread, said Melissa Brewer, spokeswoman for Ohio's emerald ash borer program.
Symptoms of Infestation by
the Emerald Ash Borer
• Distinct, D-shaped exit holes in the bark• Serpentine-shaped tunnels under the bark
on the surface of the wood• Young sprout growth at the base of the tree• Unusual activity by woodpeckers• Thinning canopy of the tree• Vertical splits in the barkCourtesy Ohio Department of Agriculture
So far, neither area has displayed visible signs of a beetle infestation. But the way the infestation has spread, both regions might be in the beetle's path of destruction soon.
"We're concerned -- to a degree," Schupp said. "It hasn't affected our supply of product yet. But, yes, we're aware of what's going on. We're looking at what'll we need to do, say, if this becomes an issue where we have no supplies of ash."
Since the first sighting of the emerald ash borer near Canton, Mich., in 2002, the beetle has eaten its way through metro parks there and forests elsewhere at an unsettling pace.
Michigan alone has lost close to 30 million trees, and those infested elsewhere with the emerald ash borer are condemned to the same fate, said Andrew Storer, an entomologist at Michigan Technology University and an authority on the emerald ash borer. Storer said no evidence suggests the ash borer infests other tree species. But researchers are continuing their studies to make certain other trees aren't at risk.
"Trees have natural defense mechanisms against insects," Storer said. "But, apparently, this particular insect was able to overcome the defense of ash trees and find them to be suitable in terms of nutrition."
Using money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ohio has spent more than $20 million in studying the ash borer and its effects. Brewer said more federal money will likely be poured into stopping the infestation.
"This is a big concern for Ohio, because one out of every 10 trees [in the state] is an ash tree," Brewer said. "So there's a lot at stake -- environmentally and economically."
In neighboring Pennsylvania, officials are in the early stages of researching the ash borer. It was first found in trees there in late June, said Walter Blosser, plant inspection program specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
Blosser said the infestation has spread beyond an area designated as ground zero, a site near Cranberry Township, Pa. He said state officials might not know for a few more weeks how far-reaching this infestation is.
Blosser doesn't view the loss of ash as frightening a prospect as a similar loss of oak, which seems resistant to the ash borer.
"The ash component in Pennsylvania is a small percentage overall," Blosser said. "Ash, aside from an industry such as baseball, is not a high-value wood. Economically speaking, it's not as big a hit as if it was another species."
To slow the infestation, USDA has quarantined ash, issuing fines to prevent the transport of ash products outside infested areas. Even so, the infestation of ash continues to creep eastward.
Researchers such as Blosser are unsure, however, what the environmental effects of a landscape devoid of ash trees might be like.
That's not a thought officials with Hillerich & Bradsby want to entertain, Schupp said. In its 120-year history, the company has explored or used other hardwoods, such as hickory, oak and beech in an effort to find complements to its lineup of wood bats, which players such as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Ken Griffey Jr. have wielded over the decades.
"Northern white ash is the wood everybody keeps going back to," said Rick Redman, the company's vice president of communications.
In the past three years, maple has slid ahead of ash (52 percent to 48 percent) as the preferred wood of Major Leaguers, and Redman and Schupp point to the Barry Bonds factor and the belief by some players that maple's hardness is superior to ash as reasons.
"But when you get right down to it, guys make choices on a lot of variables -- not just hardness," Schupp said. "Ask Derek Jeter why he doesn't use maple. Ask guys why they do use it.
"Every player you ask, you're going to get a different variable answer."
Ballplayers such as Michaels and teammate Ryan Garko would agree. They are the only two players with the Indians who are ash men. They've heard all the talk about the hardness of maple, which is a more expensive wood, and how balls seem to rocket off a maple bat. They aren't listening to the hype.
"I've used ash bats my whole career," Garko said. "Sometimes maple bats break, even when you don't get jammed. I've had bad maple bats that just break. Ash is pretty true, in my experience.
"Everyone has different opinions."
An opinion that has drawn a hard consensus, though, is that the emerald ash borer threatens the ash species. What that threat means for the long haul, no one can say for certain. "But we should be very concerned," Blosser said. "Ash is locally a common species, and it's an important component of forestry landscape. It's tremendously valuable."