Signal Hill SCIENCE | Ghost Forests
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Nov 4, 2025 Paul Adamus, a lifelong birder and wetland scientist, and Stan Gregory, a fisheries biologist, explain why Oregon ash matter to wildlife and waterways. They describe ash groves as habitat for birds and mammals. They show how ash shapes river channels, shade streams, and supports native fish. The discussion traces ash history, threats from emerald ash borer, and the looming landscape change.
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Parking Lot Discovery Of Emerald Ash Borer
- Jacqueline Moyer discovers emerald ash borer after Dominic Mays peels bark in a school parking lot and a shiny green beetle lands on his son's hand.
- Dominic found inner tunnels and epicormic sprouts at the tree bases, signaling active infestation in otherwise common neighborhood Oregon ash.
EAB Has Already Devastated Eastern Ash Populations
- Emerald ash borer (EAB) is native to northeast Asia, arrived in the U.S. by ~2002, and has killed ~100 million ash trees in the Midwest and East.
- Experts like Wyatt Williams say infestations are unstoppable at landscape scale: you can slow spread with biocontrols and insecticides but widespread tree mortality is expected.
Slow Spread And Preserve Genetic Stock
- Communities can slow EAB with parasitic wasps, systemic insecticides for individual trees, traps, and seed banking for future resistant breeding.
- Wyatt Williams' ash breeding program collects seeds for long-term storage as a hedge against total loss.