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First Elm trees died, now Ash trees are in trouble.
This looks like the next Dutch Elm Disease. 
There goes most of the shade in my yard.
WHITEHOUSE, Ohio - A tree-killing beetle no larger than a small paperclip is a new threat to the nation's ash trees that line city streets and shade backyards.
Scientists suspect the insect arrived from Asia about a decade ago. No one is sure when it will attack or how fast it moves. The only certainty is that the pest called the emerald ash borer kills every tree it attacks.
It has infested or destroyed about 6 million ash trees in southeast Michigan, and was discovered in Ohio this spring. That discovery alarmed scientists because it was the first time the ash pest had been found outside of Michigan and a small part of Ontario in Canada.
"The potential is there for widespread devastation," said Robert Haack, an entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service. "It looks like this is going to be another Dutch elm disease."
That disease carried by bark beetles has ravaged more than half the nation's elm population after first being discovered in Ohio in the 1930s. Many towns that lost elm trees replaced them with ash trees, thought to be a hardy, disease-resistant tree.
Now the ash trees are at risk.
"You have whole neighborhoods that don't have any trees," said Bill Davis, who chairs a local tree commission in Livonia, Mich. "It's like you have a brand new house in a subdivision."
From May until late July, adult ash borer beetles fly up to three miles between trees and the females lay eggs in the bark crevices. The larvae feed under the bark in late summer and fall, creating tunnels that block the flow of water and nutrients inside the tree. The tree dies within three years.
The pest also is being watched closely by the country's multibillion dollar ash tree industry. The wood is used to make baseball bats, cabinets and wood floors.
"Something like that is going to get your attention real quick," said Jack Norton, president of Louisville Slugger's timber division. "Obviously Major League Baseball is concerned too."
Seven out of 10 Louisville Slugger bats used in the major leagues come from white ash in Pennsylvania and New York. Louisville, Ky.-based Hillerich & Bradsby Co., which makes Louisville Sluggers, produces 1 million wooden bats a year.
This summer, the Ohio Department of Agriculture plans to hire workers to survey 20 counties and look for the beetle in the northwest part of the state.
They will chip away at bark on ash trees to look for damage and hunt for leafless trees. Clues of an infestation are large, dead branches and a D-shaped hole on the tree trunk.
Often signs of infestation are not apparent there is already enough damage to kill the tree.
Ohio officials think they may have caught the first outbreak in the state early enough to keep it from spreading.
Larvae were found in February in a heavily wooded area a not far from Toledo Express Airport. In little over a month, workers began cutting down nearly 4,000 ash trees, mulching them into fine pieces and burning the tree chips.
"So far, it looks like it has worked," said Melanie Wilt, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Agriculture Department.
The state also injected insecticide into the ground around other ash trees in nearby yards, including the four ash trees near Gary Frail's house.
"I planted those four years ago," he said. "I would've hated to lose them."
The northern and western suburbs of Detroit have been hit hardest by the ash disease. Homeowners and landscapers had noticed the loss of ash trees for about five years, but the cause wasn't determined until last summer. It was too late.
Livonia city workers are expected to cut down 3,400 trees. That doesn't include thousands of trees that homeowners are responsible for taking down.
"We have people who want to treat the trees, but they're too far gone," said Doug Moore, Livonia's parks and forestry supervisor. "We lost the battle."
Tree growers in Michigan estimate they have lost at least $4 million in sales because of the ash pest, said Amy Frankmann, spokeswoman for the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association.
"Nobody's buying," she said. "People who bought ash trees are coming in and demanding another tree or asking for money back."
A quarantine in Michigan has banned people from moving ash trees, logs or firewood outside of six southeastern counties. The state is trying to keep the ash pest in those areas, knowing that another six million trees in those counties are likely to die.
"Our ultimate goal is to make sure it doesn't spread," said Sara Linsmeier-Wurfel, a spokeswoman for Michigan's Department of Agriculture. "It's like creating a fire break to stop a forest fire."
But what is frustrating to scientists is that they don't know much about the beetle.
"These beetles are good fliers," Haack said. "They may be spreading much further than we think they are."
He is studying whether homeowners inadvertently moved them in bundles of firewood. Researchers with the forest service and Michigan State University also are looking into how to trap the beetle and are testing insecticides. Nothing has worked.
Scientists suspect the beetle arrived in the United States with wood used to pack cargo from China, where the insect is native.
Now the question is how much farther will it go.
"It's possible it could have spread to other locations," Haack said. "It wouldn't be surprising to me at all to find it in other states."
Scientists suspect the insect arrived from Asia about a decade ago. No one is sure when it will attack or how fast it moves. The only certainty is that the pest called the emerald ash borer kills every tree it attacks.
It has infested or destroyed about 6 million ash trees in southeast Michigan, and was discovered in Ohio this spring. That discovery alarmed scientists because it was the first time the ash pest had been found outside of Michigan and a small part of Ontario in Canada.
"The potential is there for widespread devastation," said Robert Haack, an entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service. "It looks like this is going to be another Dutch elm disease."
That disease carried by bark beetles has ravaged more than half the nation's elm population after first being discovered in Ohio in the 1930s. Many towns that lost elm trees replaced them with ash trees, thought to be a hardy, disease-resistant tree.
Now the ash trees are at risk.
"You have whole neighborhoods that don't have any trees," said Bill Davis, who chairs a local tree commission in Livonia, Mich. "It's like you have a brand new house in a subdivision."
From May until late July, adult ash borer beetles fly up to three miles between trees and the females lay eggs in the bark crevices. The larvae feed under the bark in late summer and fall, creating tunnels that block the flow of water and nutrients inside the tree. The tree dies within three years.
The pest also is being watched closely by the country's multibillion dollar ash tree industry. The wood is used to make baseball bats, cabinets and wood floors.
"Something like that is going to get your attention real quick," said Jack Norton, president of Louisville Slugger's timber division. "Obviously Major League Baseball is concerned too."
Seven out of 10 Louisville Slugger bats used in the major leagues come from white ash in Pennsylvania and New York. Louisville, Ky.-based Hillerich & Bradsby Co., which makes Louisville Sluggers, produces 1 million wooden bats a year.
This summer, the Ohio Department of Agriculture plans to hire workers to survey 20 counties and look for the beetle in the northwest part of the state.
They will chip away at bark on ash trees to look for damage and hunt for leafless trees. Clues of an infestation are large, dead branches and a D-shaped hole on the tree trunk.
Often signs of infestation are not apparent there is already enough damage to kill the tree.
Ohio officials think they may have caught the first outbreak in the state early enough to keep it from spreading.
Larvae were found in February in a heavily wooded area a not far from Toledo Express Airport. In little over a month, workers began cutting down nearly 4,000 ash trees, mulching them into fine pieces and burning the tree chips.
"So far, it looks like it has worked," said Melanie Wilt, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Agriculture Department.
The state also injected insecticide into the ground around other ash trees in nearby yards, including the four ash trees near Gary Frail's house.
"I planted those four years ago," he said. "I would've hated to lose them."
The northern and western suburbs of Detroit have been hit hardest by the ash disease. Homeowners and landscapers had noticed the loss of ash trees for about five years, but the cause wasn't determined until last summer. It was too late.
Livonia city workers are expected to cut down 3,400 trees. That doesn't include thousands of trees that homeowners are responsible for taking down.
"We have people who want to treat the trees, but they're too far gone," said Doug Moore, Livonia's parks and forestry supervisor. "We lost the battle."
Tree growers in Michigan estimate they have lost at least $4 million in sales because of the ash pest, said Amy Frankmann, spokeswoman for the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association.
"Nobody's buying," she said. "People who bought ash trees are coming in and demanding another tree or asking for money back."
A quarantine in Michigan has banned people from moving ash trees, logs or firewood outside of six southeastern counties. The state is trying to keep the ash pest in those areas, knowing that another six million trees in those counties are likely to die.
"Our ultimate goal is to make sure it doesn't spread," said Sara Linsmeier-Wurfel, a spokeswoman for Michigan's Department of Agriculture. "It's like creating a fire break to stop a forest fire."
But what is frustrating to scientists is that they don't know much about the beetle.
"These beetles are good fliers," Haack said. "They may be spreading much further than we think they are."
He is studying whether homeowners inadvertently moved them in bundles of firewood. Researchers with the forest service and Michigan State University also are looking into how to trap the beetle and are testing insecticides. Nothing has worked.
Scientists suspect the beetle arrived in the United States with wood used to pack cargo from China, where the insect is native.
Now the question is how much farther will it go.
"It's possible it could have spread to other locations," Haack said. "It wouldn't be surprising to me at all to find it in other states."
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