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The size of a pine nut with grass-blade wings and a disco shimmer, the elusive emerald ash borer (EAB) doesn\u2019t look capable of destroying one tree, let alone upward of 150 million. But this comely green killer is poised to attack Maine\u2019s ash population, having already decimated trees in the Midwest while moving rapidly east.<\/p>\n
EAB is literally at Maine\u2019s front door. The nearest confirmed \u201cfinds\u201d place the insect 30 miles from Maine\u2019s western border in both Quebec and Concord, NH with the Asian native predicted to arrive sometime within the next two years. Because the insect is hard to see and its larvae hidden, researchers say EAB may have already begun its Maine invasion. Larval offspring dwell just beneath the bark where they gorge on sapwood and bulldoze serpentine pathways into the trees\u2019 vital lifelines.<\/p>\n
The best Maine can hope for, researchers say, is an abbreviated invasion, in part due to research and initiatives launched by UMaine\u2019s Sustainability Solutions Initiative\u2019s EAB team, which is focused on black ash. The stakes are high: black ash, also referred to as brown ash, is the most important basket-making resource for Maine\u2019s Wabanaki tribes. The baskets are the center of a spiritual tradition thousands of years old and a source of income for the tribes.<\/p>\n
After spending years focused on preventative efforts, the EAB team\u2019s focus has switched to the beetle\u2019s arrival. Researchers are looking at methods to store wood and salvage seeds. The team will continue to map the state\u2019s black ash population, searching for basket-quality trees and mulling possibilities for the longer-term goal of rerouting the insects away from valuable stands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the adaptation phase,\u201d said graduate student Kara Lorion, a co-leader on three years of critical black ash fieldwork for the team. \u201cThis is about learning to live with the insect.\u201d<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s not an easy task. Researchers, for example, relied heavily on the public to help eradicate the invasive Asian longhorn beetle (ALB) across parts of the United States and Canada in the late 90s and 2000s. ALB is large, distinctive and easy to identify. Not so with EAB.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe adults hang out in the tops of trees and are really hard to see unless you know what you\u2019re looking for,\u201d said Darren Ranco<\/a>, EAB team leader, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Native American Programs. \u201cAnd once you find the pathways under the bark, the tree is not salvageable. Our hope is that, because of a lot of preventative work on the part of our team, the level of infestation will be small.\u201d<\/p>\n In one of the most important developments, the EAB team helped effect a ban on out-of-state firewood, the insect\u2019s main mode of transportation. The effort has most likely slowed the arrival of the beetle in the state. But just as with other methods tried elsewhere \u2013 such as trap trees or attempts to kill off EAB \u2013 the ban is an imperfect solution. Enormous amounts of firewood come into the state under the radar and there are no controls to mitigate the influx.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a tough reality for Wabanaki people who only recently saw a renaissance in traditional basketmaking. The ancient art started to fall off in the mid-20th<\/sup> Century when the market for baskets dried up. The tradition was not being passed on and by the mid-1990s, the average basketmaker was 63-years-old. Seeing the writing on the wall, tribal elders worked with younger people to revive the tradition, teaching them both to weave baskets and harvest ash in the traditional way, a process that involves a rhythmic pounding akin to a heartbeat. The average basketmaker today is 40 and parents are teaching their children. The EAB threat comes at a time when baskets from members of the <\/span>Penobscot, Micmac, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy tribes are fetching anywhere from $60 to $6,000 depending on the skill of the artisan and the size and style of the basket.<\/p>\n \u201cThe heart of this unique collaboration at the intersection of arts, culture and the environment is the oldest documented arts tradition in New England\u201d said EAB team member John Daigle, Associate Professor of Forest Recreation Management. Black ash \u201cis a cultural keystone species for Wabanaki peoples and serves a critical role in multiple spheres of contemporary life.\u201d<\/p>\n The threat of EAB is especially painful in light of the cultural resurgance.<\/p>\n