Episode 23: Emerald Ash Borer (in English)

From the Oregon State University's extension service, you are listening to In the Woods with the forestry and natural resources program. This podcast aims to show the voices of researchers, land managers, and members of the public interested in telling the story of how woodlands provide more than just trees. They provide interconnectedness that is essential to your daily life. Stick around to discover a new topic related to forests on each episode.

Welcome back to another episode of In the Woods. I'm your host, Lauren Grand, associate professor of practice and extension agent in Oregon State University's college of forestry.

So, just so you know, we have a website @inthewoodspodcast.org, and it's a great way to tell us what you think about how the podcast is going. For you to be able to suggest a topic for us to cover. Or you can even leave us a voicemail that asks us a question we can answer on one of our future podcasts.

So, if you wanna hear about a special topic related to forests, make sure you let us know and we'll do a future episode on it. But to today's topic. If you're someone who pays close attention to environmental news, you've probably been hearing lots about a new invasive species. An insect called the Emerald ash borer that's recently been detected for the first time in Oregon last week. To learn more about this insect and hear what you as Oregonians can do to help slow its spread.

I've invited Oregon Department of Forestry's entomologist Christine Buhl to the podcast today. Welcome to the podcast, Christine. Thank you for having me. We also wanted to invite our colleague Dan Stark, who helps run the Oregon State University's Oregon Forest Pest Detectors program. Welcome to the podcast, Dan.

Hey everybody. So, my hope is at the end of the podcast today, listeners will have a little bit of a better idea of what the introduction of this invasive species means, and what they can do to lend a helping hand to save our Ash trees if they're so inclined. But before we get started, Christine, can you tell us a little bit more about yourself.

Yeah, so I'm the state forest entomologist. Um, my job is quite variable, um, but mainly it entails either working in the lab, flying in an airplane to detect damage, or responding to landowner concerns and troubleshooting. Mainly insects, but we also will be troubleshooting diseases, abiotic, any other types of stressors that can damage or kill our trees in the landscape.

And that's in the natural interface, um, wildland and also in urban areas. Ooh, that's a big job. Sounds like lots of fun. It's a lot of fun. Um, we get to see a lot of things on the landscape and this is the most, uh, interesting one we have seen yet. Dan, you wanna share a little bit about what you do as well.

Sure. I'm the, um, extension agent for the north coast region. I'm lucky to have, um, Clatsop, Tillamook and Lincoln counties as my service areas. And, um, I, my specialty or what I like to do and what really gets me going is forest health stuff. So, um, yeah, I'm excited to be here today and to share a little bit about some of the, Oregon Forest Pest Detector Program.

Thanks, Dan, I'm excited to have you both on the podcast today. So, Christine let's dive right in. Um, this is kind of exciting. I feel like I'm in the presence of a celebrity because you were the first entomologist to confirm the siting, um, that this indeed was Emerald ash borer. Can you tell us a little bit more about this insect? And what, you know, what is it look like?

Where does it like to live? Things like that. Yeah, um, first I just wanna say it was, um, kind of a right place at the right time. Um, depending on how you look at it. Um, the person that first actually saw evidence of Emerald ash borer was Dominic Maze, um, who works with the city of Portland who has extensive background and knowledge and invasive species.

So, he was familiar with what to look at. And so, um, a lot of us that had been waiting for this insect to arrive. We are always having, um, our eyes peeled, looking at Ash trees to see what state they're in. And whenever we see Ash that aren't looking so good, we take a closer look and that's exactly what he did when he took that closer look, he saw the main signs and symptoms that we want people to look out for, which are the D shaped exit holes and the insect itself, a bright green beetle.

And so he then, uh, informed me and I went out there and took a look and took some samples and identified it and it was indeed Emerald ash borer. And so, um, some quick and dirty background about Emerald ash borer is that it is an exotic invasive. Meaning it is not from the United States and it's invasive.

So, it does tend to take over areas and be quite destructive. We have lots of exotics that are not quite as damaging and many come over every year. But a small proportion are quite invasive and can cause large damage. This insect came over to the United States from Eastern Asia, where it is, um, common in parts of China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, parts of Russia, et cetera.

And it came over largely we think through shipping in either, um, packaging of wood products. And it arrived in Michigan in 2002, and, um, slowly started spreading throughout the Ash trees in those Eastern states. And so we've been preparing ever since for its arrival. We started trapping for it in 2005 in Oregon and, um, developing plans for how we are going to respond for this very moment.

Wow. So we've been kind of lucky that we've had some time to prepare for it. And been able to hopefully learn a bit from the Eastern states about what they've been able to go through. Yes. So you mentioned Ash trees. So this, um, how does this species affect Ash trees?

So, what this insect does is the adults will lay eggs on the outside of the tree. Those eggs hatch into larva, they grow under the bark, and then they feed on the tissues that are active in living in the tree that transport water and nutrients and these vascular tissues, um, are right under the bark. And so the larva are just feeding and making these tunnels under the bark. They're not going deeper into the wood they stay right at that surface of the wood, right under the bark.

And as they're feeding, they're cutting through these tissues, which is called girdling. And that's what kills the trees very quickly. Trees can die within even one year, but typically it's somewhere around five, sometimes seven years. Um, so it does range on the preexisting health on the, of the tree, but they can kill these trees relatively quickly.

And Ash trees of all species are affected. In their native range, there are Ash trees that have evolved chemical defenses that do not allow the insect to kill the tree as readily as they do here. The species we have here are not used to, um, Emerald ash borer and have not developed those defenses. So, all of the, I believe 16 species of Ash across the nation are susceptible with this insect, Oregon Ash is one of them.

Okay, so that sounds like one of the reasons why invasive species are so detrimental to our forests is that, you know, the Emerald ash borer evolved with Ash trees in its native region to have the, for the Ash to have some defenses. But here in the United States are Ash trees. Don't have those defenses.

Is that right? Are there other reasons why, um, it's so detrimental. Yes, there are other reasons in that we don't have natural controls outside of chemical defenses from the tree that have evolved with this insect. So, we don't have parasitoids and predators that, um, are focusing on Emerald ash borer.

That's not to say that there aren't some things out there that aren't feeding on or parasitizing Emerald ash borer that we have in the United States. And in fact in Oregon, but they're not concentrating on this insect. So, they really, aren't doing a lot to make a dent in that population. Okay, so does this insect affect any other trees or is Ash the main, um, the main course for this?

So, Ash is the main course. Um, it is their preferred because they can develop best on this host plant material. But Ash is in the Oleaceae family which is the olive family. So, they can actually also infest olive and fringe tree, however, their development, um, isn't as good in those trees, meaning that their populations might not be as robust.

So, they really tend to focus on Ash, but as with many insects, if they don't have their preferred host, they may sample, um, a nearby host. But that doesn't mean that they can do well on it and produce enough offspring, or any at all. Okay, let's talk a little bit more about how these insects sort of move around.

Um, you said that they, they came to the United States on, you know, we think shipping containers and started in the east, on the east coast, but they've made their way now all the way to the west coast. How does something like that happen? So, beyond getting imported through overseas shipments, um, there is a lot of interstate travel.

Um, for products that are being shipped. But also primarily, um, things such as firewood, that people are aiding the passage of these insects through different states. And that is very common actually for people to transport firewood. And we do think that, um, that's how the insect made it as far as Colorado, because what happened was the Eastern states were struggling with Emerald ash borer and APHIS established a quarantine in which the, um, products that could contain the insects such as firewood could not be transported across that line.

And yet, sometime after that quarantine, Emerald ash borer was found in Colorado. So, we think it may have just, um, traveled via a person, any sort of shipments that were transporting it. And so this insect, um, is present in these Ash trees out east.

And now that we have it here in Oregon, it can be present in the Ash trees that it has infested. And so we are advising people not to transport firewood, if at all possible. However, the regulations say keep transportation of firewood within 50 miles, we prefer within 10 miles from where it was cut. Um, obviously if there's any evidence that Emerald ash borer has infested that material, do not transport it at all and report that to us.

Um, if you can avoid utilizing Ash for firewood at all, that would actually be beneficial. And lastly, The insect itself can fly. The adult flies from tree to tree. Um, generally insects don't like to fly any further than their next host. They don't wanna reduce their fat stores, but if wind aided or insufficient hosts are available or the population is too crowded, they will disperse further.

And so there's a wide range of distances that this insect has been found to be able to travel. It may travel as little as 800 meters to the next host tree. And that's the end of its lifespan. And some have been found to travel as far as seven miles or further, especially if aided by wind. Wow. Seven miles.

That seems so far for an insect that's so small. It does. Um, I've learned about situations in which insects can be moved through firewood before. So, Emerald ash borer isn't the only insect where this is a concern. Is that right? Yes, and I'm glad you mentioned that because we are in the lookout for also Asian long-horned beetle, um, which has not yet been found in Oregon, but possibly might be coming over and could be, um, contained in firewood.

And so we are looking out for any insects that might be coming in through firewood. Um, we do suggest that people look at the dontmovefirewood.org website for more details specific to Oregon.

Okay, great. Yeah, if you're going camping, wait to purchase your firewood till you get to your campsite. So, that way you know it's local and you're not bringing insects from your home.

Okay, so now that we learned a little bit more about Emerald ash borer and how it affects our forests. I wanna hear a little bit more about the plan that Oregon has to sort of deal with limiting the spread of this insect. So, you mentioned earlier that we had a plan already in place. Can you talk a little bit more about that plan and maybe what the first steps are that we're working on right now?

Yes, so, um, this was a collaborative effort amongst different agencies in Oregon, um, to create an Emerald ash borer readiness and response plan. And this plan was actually built on a lot of other plans in Eastern states that had already been impacted by Emerald ash borer, or were expecting it. And so we learned a lot from them about what should be included.

What's feasible. What's not. So, we had a lot to, um, go on to develop this plan and it's very comprehensive starting with who to contact, what's the chain of command? What agencies are going to take the lead? And, and what parts are they going to work on? How are we gonna determine if we have a positive detection? From there, how do we respond? Um, and scaled up through different stages?

How do we then guide landowners in terms of what they're going to do? Um, relative to the stage of infestation that we are at. So, it is a high level plan where it's a, an overview. And then now that we have actually, um, detected Emerald ash borer, we are going to finally tune those pieces of the plan. It's basically a framework to work in so we don't have to start from scratch. We, you know, had a lot of canned press releases, for example, that we use as a template. So, we could, um, produce these things in a short turnaround time. So, it was highly beneficial that we had this plan. It's available for public viewing online. You can find it if you look up Emerald ash borer readiness and response plan for Oregon.

And we are working from this plan on our steps going forward, determining where else Emerald ash borer might be present in the state. And then how to advise landowners in terms of how to look out for it, communicate that information to us, and then how to eventually treat for it.

Okay, so that's great to have a framework. So, what were the actual first steps that were taken um, after this discovery was made? The first steps are always communication. So, if you think you have found something, even if it's not positive. Reach out, know who you need to contact. And so that's what we did.

And it went up the chain of command. Once Dominic found it, he informed me. I then informed Oregon Department of Agriculture, as well as our invasive species, um, specialist Wyatt Williams with Oregon Department of Forestry. And I reached out to APHIS and ODA and APHIS also received samples to positively identify this as Emerald ash borer, so, um, it is added in the system as we do have a location of our first detection.

From there, we then go, well, where has it spread? Or where else is it present? So, we are currently working on a delimitation plan to determine how far it has spread from that central point. And then we are communicating. Again, communication is the biggest key, communicating this information to media outlets, um, to get the general public aware, to start looking at their property.

Do they even have Ash trees? What does an Ash tree look like? Are they seeing signs and symptoms? And where to report it if they have found anything? Okay, so that's good let's um, so speaking of communication, and you know, there's probably a lot of Oregonians, in general, who are now concerned about, you know, this insect.

They've probably heard about it in the stories from friends or family on the east coast, seeing rows of Ash trees dead in the streets, which are, you know, emotional photos. Um, what are some signs that, you know, people as they're going out for hikes, or if they're walking in their neighborhoods should look for to know whether they should dive deeper into whether this is something they need to communicate to you all?

So, the, um, main signs and symptoms to look for is when Ash has either top kill, so the top of the crown is starting to die back. You'll just see a loss of leaves from the very top, or an overall thinning in the crown of leaves. Um, sometimes they will produce epicormic shoots from the trunk that's from the base or along the trunk.

And basically that's the tree that it, it knows it's dying, but it's trying to survive by putting out more photosynthetic material through new shoots. That's when you start taking a closer look. So, there are lots of things that could cause those symptoms in Ash, such as drought. And we have had prolonged droughts that have been impacting our Ash.

So, we do advise people to take a closer look, if they can. If they cannot, feel free to report those symptoms to us and the location so we can follow up. But if they can take a closer look, we are looking for D shaped exit holes. They're very small exit holes. Pretty much, no wider than, um, slightly wider, I guess, than the width of a pencil lead, not the pencil itself, but the pencil lead.

It's just a little bit wider than that. If you took a pencil and poked it into a tree, and sometimes that D shape isn't as clear, sometimes it looks more round than D shaped. But, um, if you probably won't just see one, I will say that. Emerald ash borer attacks in force. And so you'll probably see a bunch of different holes.

And if you even see the beetle itself, even better, because a lot of other insects make exit holes as well, that are not damaging. And the beetle itself, if you see that, if you collect a specimen, um, they're not harmful, you can catch them. Um, there's no, um, public health issue with them. Or taking a picture is great.

And if you could report it to any of these symptoms, please report them to the Oregon invasive species online hotline. There is an online reporting tool where you can submit pictures and texts and locations. We need to have all the details to follow up. And please be advised that when you see any green beetle, it doesn't mean it's automatically Emerald ash borer.

So, please do look up online, "What does Emerald ash borer actually look like?" Look at the size. It's usually about a half an inch in length. There is some variation there. It is a very slender looking insect and it's, um, all green. There's no orange on the back, unless it has its wings open. And so look for a green insect and as the name implies, it's kind of an Emerald green, but there are some ranges in that.

Sometimes it's lighter. Sometimes it's more of a drab or brownish green, but the advice we have lots of insects that to the lay person could look like Emerald ash borer. But if there's any question, if you can just let us know, we will follow up on it. Okay, thanks Christine. We do have, we will put that some resources on the website for helping people to identify that.

And then the, the hotline, the invasive species hotline. We'll make sure it's on the website so people can find it easily. That would, that would be great for people to be able to help let us know how this insect is moving through the state. Yeah. So, Dan you've been, we've been ignoring you for a little while, but, um, we've kind of finally come to the part in the program where I wanna talk a little bit about what Oregon State University has in terms of education around, um, this insect.

So, can you tell us a little bit more about the Oregon forest pest detectors program? Great, yeah, I would love to. So, the Oregon forest pest detector program has actually been around a while since 2014. And it's a collaboration between all different kinds of folks, the Oregon forest, uh, uh, department of forestry and, and many others.

So, um, you can, um, look up this information on the website here. It has lots of great information. Um, you can just look up Oregon forest pest detectors, and you'll be brought to our webpage that has all of this information and more that you can find out about. What is the Oregon forest pest detectors, first of all? And, um, who on earth would wanna do something like this?

Well, as we've heard from our, our specialists here, our entomologists that, um, you know, early detections are key to, um, you know, detecting these pests. So, you know, all of these things, these programs, um, that are in place to detect them and to do with them can, can happen, uh, expeditedly. Expeditiously is the word I was looking for there.

Um, so, so this is a really first important step with this program, you know, to, um, it there, these detections are usually made by ordinary people. Um, often they're in the natural resources profession or, or, you know, they could just be, you know, someone who's involved in trees, in their community, a lot of master gardeners, you know, go through this program.

We'll talk a little bit more about who gets to take this, um, pretty much anybody. Um, so, you know, so this happens, while they're on the job or at home around their neighborhood. They clue in and see something's going on, right? You've heard, uh, Dr. Buhl talk about, you know, paying attention to those signs and symptoms, right?

So, something you're out there and you have this training and this not, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm seeing something. Okay, so that's the first part of it. Um, who gets to, um, Uh, or, you know, why become a Oregon forest pest detector? Um, so who are they? They are a group of volunteers that help prevent the damaging impacts of invasive forest pests by monitoring for and reporting potential infestation.

So, they usually have some kind of baseline knowledge of tree or insect identification, but that's not a requirement. If you're interested in trees, we need all hands on deck. So, um, I just wanna make sure that that's clear. This is open to anyone who has an interest in learning more about us, our invasive species, in general, um, and the threat of them in, um, in Oregon's forest.

Okay. So, you know, um, I mentioned a few other people who could be in there. Um, so this program, the Oregon forest pest detector program currently focuses on the detection of the Emerald ash borer primarily. Um, you heard Christine mention that. Um, it also, it focuses on the Asian long-horned beetle, um, another invasive, uh, insect that has not been detected here yet, as Christine said.

So, you will get the skills when you go through this program to learn how to identify these two, um, invasives. And it also focuses on a beetle that we haven't talked about yet. That's, um, wreaking havoc in the Southern part of, uh, in California, really primarily in the Southwest. Um, um, not so much. It came from the Southwest from Arizona area and moved into California on the Goldspotted oak borer.

So, that's the final insect that's talked about on our online module. That's available to anybody. I should say while we're talking about that it's available for free. So, um, it's the course itself lasts about 90 minutes. You can come it's a self-paced course. You don't have to sit and do it all at once.

You can do it module by module. There is a fee for professionals who might be interested in getting specific credits that are offered by, um, some of our partners. So, um, our our, our, um, arboriculture, um, credits you can get, for example. Um, okay, so that's it in a nutshell. So, how to get involved really in all of this, the first step really is to take this online course.

Um, and I was just talking about how it's free in all of that information. And a little bit more about those credits. I was talking about arboriculture culture, but you know, if you are in, um, interested in getting credits, you will have to pay a small fee, but you have available for you International Society of Arboriculture or the Oregon Department of Agricultural pesticide license program, continuing education credits.

So, this can help you in your profession to, um, if you wanna take this course. Once you complete this course, um, you are not just, you know, okay, now I'm out here I have this education. Um, you are then qualified to take a field training, so this is where Oregon State extension and partners such as Oregon Department of Forestry and, and, um, forest service and others would have a training in your area, ideally, or nearby to come out and see some examples. You know, we wouldn't have infested trees or anything like that right now, but, um, we go through some of the signs and symptoms together. Um, there are beetles that are brought to the table, so you can have a look at them on preserve specimens there's information that's given.

So, this field component is, um, really important also, but not completely necessary. So, I encourage people to take this course. Um, it is free, it's self-paced like I said, it's 90 minutes total so it's not gonna take a lot of time. Do check out the Oregon forest pest detector homepage, because there is a link to the story about this first detection, um, of the, the Emerald ash borer.

But also, it has a lot of these great resources that you've heard. Um, uh, Christine mentioned too, and, and they're linked there as well so there's lots of good information out there for you so the Oregon forest pest detector kind of helps with that and helps train folks to be out there and to be the eyes in ears to, um, um, keep an eye on our landscape for these, these invasive pests.

Yeah, thanks Dan. It's a really great course. I had the privilege of being able to go through the course a couple years ago. And in Eugene, the partners actually came together and created a, um, practice course. And by course I don't mean class. I mean, uh, they actually went out and, you know, put in, uh, D shaped holes on trees and created etching where woodpeckers might scratch at the bark because there are beetles and made this correctly shaped, boring holes.

And, um, uh, what are those called? Those, uh... The gallery pattern. Galleries. Thank you. Boring galleries. Um, that Emerald ash borer would make so that it, we really could practice and see what it looks like, so it's a really well put together course, and you learn a lot online.

And then if you do have the opportunity when the course is up and going in person to join, I, I highly recommend it, so, and you have the opportunity to help the professionals who are out there trying to stop the spread of the species, um, and let them know, um, when it comes to your area. So, uh, thanks so much for sharing with that, us about that, Dan.

Absolutely.

Okay, so, um, I wanted to end on a, you know, call for action, but I feel like we've already done that. We've called for you to take this course to learn more and to communicate with our professionals, to the invasive species hotline if you see any signs. Any other calls to action, you can think of things people can do.

Don't move firewood, go to the dontmovefirewood.org website to learn more about that. Um, what else can people do? Am I missing anything? I would like to go back to the course just to bring one important component there, just, you know, this is something people can do. There is a unit in there, a segment about how to report.

So, that's really important too. So, you won't get just the knowledge of, you know, um, of what it looks like and how to recognize it. You'll actually be giving the tools to do that, so that is something that people can do to, you know, being able to report what they see. So, um, I forgot to mention that, so, okay. But what else can we do?

So, um, one of the things that I think if I were a landowner listening to this, I would want to know, okay, give me specific direction. So, we told you about the signs and symptoms. First of all, just know what an Ash tree looks like so you know that you're looking at the right tree. Um, and it's hard to describe over a radio, but, um, they have a compound leaf.

So, that mainly means there are lots of little leaflets on one, uh, leaf stem, which is called a petiole. And you can look online for lots of examples about what's a compound leaf versus a simple leaf. So, a maple leaf is a simple leaf. It's one big leaf on that leaf stem. Um, but looking at a compound leaf, you can see there's a difference there.

And also they have opposite versus alternate branching. And that just means that everywhere you see a branch off of that main branch. Those are directly on near sides from each other versus alternating one above the other. And again, doesn't translate on radio. So, look online to see what an Ash looks like.

We do have other trees that can be confused, so know which trees are actually Ash. Um, take stock of what Ash you have in your yard or as street trees, even that you don't maintain, but just being aware, and then keep an eye on them, uh, for symptoms. And then going forward, um, further down the road in terms of action for those trees.

We are not at this time recommending that you replace your Ash immediately. It will take some time for Emerald ash borer to reach, um, the trees in Oregon. And it does take time from there on for them to actually kill the trees. So, don't preemptively cut down your Ash tree, come up with a plan, keep an eye on them.

And also recognize if you do have heritage trees that you do want to keep on a landscape. There are highly effective insecticides that do work, but only preventatively. They do not work once the tree has already become infested. And so, um, there are stem injections, for example. And there's more in our Emerald ash borer plan and we will be releasing more information for the public.

We just don't want people to run out there and cut down trees immediately, or, um, immediately spray them with pesticides that are not going to work for them. Especially if they're going to impact the natural enemies that can keep Emerald ash borer in check. And those pesticides are very expensive. So, um, be advised of that.

And then if you do need to remove an invested tree, we will have more information as we develop the framework for where does that wood go? How does it need to be prepared? Um, as always, if you need to connect with an arborist, we do recommend going through the international society of arborist certification, um, link just to see which arborists are in your area that have that certification. These folks, um, have a lot of insect and disease training and understanding of all these processes. And we are going to keep them in the know about what these standards are. So, that would be your first stop if you do have a tree that you need to deal with.

Oh, and one last thing I should mention. I apologize. Um, if you plan on, um, replacing an Ash tree, or even once you take stock of all the Ash trees in your yard and need to think about, well, if I, if I do lose these trees, what can I replace them with? We definitely suggest that you replace them with natives when at all possible. Diversifying what trees you put on the landscape is helpful.

But also in light of climate change and, um, drastically changing conditions in terms of ongoing hot droughts, please opt for species that are more climate change adapted. Meaning there are more drought tolerant. There are plenty of lists online. We will be providing more information about that. Um, there are many, um, Arbor groups that can help you with that as well.

Yeah, great advice. Thank you, Christine. And thank you so much, Dan and Christine for joining me today. Um, I really appreciate you coming together last minute, as this was just announced so recently to talk to me about Emerald ash borer and share this important information with our listeners. And it's good to know that even though this insect is detrimental to our Oregon forests, there's plans in place, um, and ways that we can limit its spread so that we don't see as much damage as there is potential for.

So... Thank you. Um, but don't leave yet. We still have our lightning round up next.

Okay, so as usual before I let all my guests go, I torture them with three questions. And so the first question, we'll start with Christine, what's your favorite tree? Oh, that's such a hard one. Um, the first one that always comes to mind for me in terms of our natives is madrone. I love the madrone tree. The bark is beautiful.

I love that it's evergreen. I'm all about evergreen. Kind of bums me out when leaves are lost at the end of the year. And I don't really wanna see my neighbors all the time. So, I do love a madrone, but sticking with the natives, you know, um, I've become increasingly fond of incense cedar because it is a nice replacement for western redcedar, which is, um, really drought stressed at this time.

Across the state and in incense cedar is a beautiful replacement, really lush, bright green foliage, and again, beautiful wood, beautiful trunk, evergreen. So, that's a great replacement. Redwoods are always gorgeous. And of course they're tons of non-natives that are also beautiful, but I'm gonna stick with the natives right now.

Okay, that's good. We get, we can only have so much room on our website to list all your favorite trees. Dang. Just kidding. But you can always count on Christine to teach us something, right? Especially when it comes to drought. So, the incense cedar was a great tip for you all. Yeah. If you're having trouble with your western redcedar. How about you, Dan?

I know you've been on the podcast before. Do you wanna share your second favorite tree since you already shared your first? I, well, I'll still stare my first cause I just got to see it again. And, um, I live in the coast, so in the coastal range where I don't get to see it too much. So, it's the ponderosa pine and I I've just always loved it and it seems so common in the west and, oh my gosh. But you know, it's just a durable, beautiful tree, the puzzle bark and just, you know, I just, I love how they grow and they're just fantastic on the landscape.

They can grow in, in the monoculture. They can grow in mixed species. They just are in different, you know, climates and, you know, dry or, or, you know, high elevation place.

I, I don't know. I just think they're great. And of course they have a whole suite of bark beetles that are really cool too. Oh, gotta love having insect people on the podcast. Yeah, okay, so Christine, what's the most interesting thing that you bring with you into the field, whether it be in your cruiser vest or a field kit.

You know, maybe it's just more interesting to me, but being a bug dork, um, for many years, you know, you make certain tools that help you collect or retain insects more easily. And so I think some of my little homemade tools to pull insects out of crevices, or, um, to easily capture them and, and contain them for transport, whether I wanna ID them or rear them further.

And my cruiser vest was actually stolen a couple years ago from my car. And I lost a lot of the homemade tools that I'd had for over 20 years. So, I was very disappointed, but they can be remade cuz they're homemade so hard to describe over the, over the air, but all my weird little entomology collection tools.

Okay, homemade tools, that's great. Yeah. I was thinking there might be a small chance you would say, um, an insect net, since I got to go bee collecting with you and you talked all about having a good net, but I think it's more fun to find out that you have your own little insect tool development side hobby.

Yeah, weird, weird tools. And I, and I will say always carry a Sharpie. You never know when you have to write a note, and also it's great for scale for insects when you're taking a picture. Everybody knows what a big fat Sharpie looks like. Yeah, good point.

Okay, how about you, Dan? Well, like when I was on the first podcast, I talked about my Tupperware, um, lunch container that I always bring out, but I don't use that anymore.

It just got too old and it's just like, it's too bulky in my, my thing, but, and I don't go out in the field as much as I like to anymore. So, that makes me angry too. But, um, I think the funniest thing in my cruiser vest is always having some kind of collection stuff too, like Christine said. So, I was doing a lot of stuff with pathogens for a while so I always have to bring some kind of soft tweezers or, and you know, some alcohol with me and, um, little collection vials and that kind of thing 'cause you never know what you're gonna come up against and what you need to collect and, um, and how you might need to take that back. So, you know, lots of bags in my back too, if I need to put in samples of a tree or, you know, uh, some tips of a of a branch or something like that.

So, um, not, not too weird, I guess. But, um, not necessarily, you know, not necessary when you're just going out and, you know, looking at, you know, certain species for, you know, not related to anything. But you never know what you might find and discover. Yeah. You never know. Yeah. Better have, uh, all the things you need.

Okay, and then lastly, what resources would either of you recommend to our listeners that are interested in taking a little bit deeper dive into learning more about Emerald ash borer. Well, I have to plug, um, Oregon Department of Forestry's site. Um, not just because it's my agency, but because our public affairs team does such an amazing job getting information on there that's current and correct.

And so on our main forest health page for ODF, we do have press release links, um, the Emerald ash borer plan link, our fact sheet, any new information that's coming out, lookalikes for Emerald ash borer and image there. Um, that's a great one stop shop. You wanna dig even further?

There's a little bit of information on ODA, Oregon Department of Agriculture's website, and then APHIS, if you type in Emerald Ash Borer, they have a load of links on their website that you can follow up on as well. And those are trusted sources with factual information. And can you explain what APHIS is for? Yes.

That's a division of USDA, US Department of Agriculture, and APHIS stands for animal plant health inspection service. If I have that, right. It's a very long acronym. Um, but basically they are a federal program that typically will regulate international. And I think interstate travel of, um, items that are coming and going for the US, mainly coming in.

And that's insects, plants, any diseases that could be coming in, um, that can affect, um, ecology, not public health. So, they are the ones that are kind of the gatekeepers to ensure that we don't have things that can enter, um, and cause mass damage as with Emerald ash borer. Okay, great. And Dan, anything to add to the list?

Yeah, um, I just wanted to reiterate the importance of the dontmovefirewood.org. Um, there's a lot of pest information there as well that you could, um, read more about and how they get moved in firewood and what more you could do about it. And then also we do have an Oregon forest pest detector field guide. Right now, it's out of print, but we are working on it right now to get more of those in print.

So, you can actually purchase a hard copy to have with you. It's a nice little field, um, book to have, and it goes over these pests, um, that we talked about, um, uh, you know, um, Asian long horned beetle as well is in there. It also goes over the look alikes that Christine's talking about. So, this is gonna be available as a PDF coming soon.

Um, so keep watching the Oregon forest pest detector website for information about that, or you can go to the OSU extension catalog. And, and look for those, um, if, if that's something you'd like to learn more about. And I just have to say too, I have to plug the ODF, um, um, resources. I mean, that's where a lot of us in extension go for this information.

It's just a one stop shop and they've assembled just the best information, really clear and, um, good pictures and just all the information that you could possibly look for, I think is, is there, so check it out.

Great, thank you so much. I can't say thank you enough to both of you for joining me on such short notice to talk more about this really important discovery here in Oregon.

Um, with Emerald ash borer just being found in Oregon last week. So, thank you so much for sharing all this great information. You're both a wealth of knowledge and I hope that all of the efforts that we've been able to put in so far of will be helpful in making sure that Emerald ash borer isn't successful or isn't as successful here in Oregon.

Yeah, thank you, Lauren. Thank you for the invite. Yeah, thanks. This concludes our episode. Uh, thank you so much for listening. Join us in a couple weeks to explore another topic on Oregon's amazing forests, but until then what's in your woods?

Thank you so much for listening. Show notes with links mentioned on each episode are available on our website inthewoodspodcast.com. We would love to hear from you, visit the tell us what you think tab on our website to leave us a comment, suggest just a guest or topic, or ask a question that can be featured in a future episode. And, also, give us your feedback by filling out our survey.

In the Woods was created by Lauren Grand, Jacob Putney, Carrie Berger, Jason O'Brien and Stephen Fitzgerald, who are all members of the Oregon State University Forestry and Natural Resources Extension team. Episodes are edited and produced by Kellan Soriano. Music for In the Woods was composed by Jeffrey Hino and graphic design was created by Christina Friehauf.

We hope you enjoyed the episode and we can't wait to talk to you again next month, until then what's in your woods?