LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - An invasive insect that threatens millions of ash trees throughout Nebraska is creating a new challenge for state and local officials who will have to chop them down: what to do with all of the wood.
The challenge could fall to Nebraska lawmakers, who are looking at different options in the face of tight budgets that have kept them from pouring money into tree removal programs.
Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln has introduced a legislative study to brainstorm possible uses for the wood from trees threatened by the emerald ash borer. She plans to discuss the issue with city officials and other lawmakers between now and next year’s session.
“We’re trying to figure out if there’s some beneficial use for it,” Pansing Brooks said. “Our whole goal is to see what’s possible, who might be able to benefit from it.”
Nebraska has nearly 47 million ash trees that are at risk, including 1 million on city-owned land, said Scott Josiah, director of the Nebraska Forest Service. The beetle was discovered last year in Omaha and Greenwood, a little more than 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of Lincoln.
The emerald ash borer has also settled in neighboring Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado. The insects are native to Asia and were first spotted in the U.S. in 2002, when they showed up in the Detroit area. Infected trees typically die within five years, though healthy trees can be treated to resist the bug.
Josiah said the emerald ash borer is hard to detect at first and spreads exponentially once it gains a foothold, and forestry officials have no way to stop it.
“It’s going to be a big problem, handling all of that and the amount of wood it will generate,” Josiah said. “It overwhelms community budgets. It will hit the big communities hard, and it will hit the smaller communities harder.
Josiah said his agency is experimenting with different uses for the wood to try to offset some of the removal and replacement expenses. Some of the possibilities include mulch for agricultural land and converting it into biochar, a type of charcoal that could be used to improve soil fertility and feed cattle. One of the biggest challenges is a tree’s proximity to a saw mill or other facility that can use it.
“This amount of wood can generate some pretty interesting market opportunities,” he said. “I always say never waste a good crisis - and this is a crisis.”
Lincoln has roughly 14,000 ash trees on public property that city officials will need to remove and replace over at least 15 years, said Lynn Johnson, the parks and recreation director. About 2,000 are in city parks and 12,000 are along streets.
The city is aiming to remove and replace 1,000 trees a year. Officials haven’t confirmed the emerald ash borer’s presence in Lincoln, but Johnson said he’s confident the beetle has arrived.
Johnson said most trees will be converted into wood chips for landscaping and animal bedding, but city officials are interested in partnerships with other local governments or private groups to find other uses. Some communities dealing with the same problem have established relationships with amateur woodworkers or used some of their supply to build new shelves at their public library.
“It’s a very high-quality wood,” Johnson said.
State officials may look to South Sioux City, which has launched a series of clean-energy projects to help replace its trees. Ash trees account for nearly one-fourth of all the trees on city land, said City Administrator Lance Hedquist.
Hedquist said the city built a small energy facility that converts ground-up wood into a gas that produces electricity. The facility powers a local campground. Hedquist said the facility was built with financial help from the Nebraska Forest Service and the Department of Environmental Quality.
South Sioux City also signed a power purchase agreement with Green Star Energy to build a larger wood-gas facility capable of generating up to 3 megawatts of electricity. Power from the plant will feed into the city’s grid.
Hedquist said using the ash tree is part of the city’s broader effort to rely more on renewable energy. With recent purchases of solar and wind energy equipment, the city expects to get more than half of its energy from renewable sources in the next two years.
“It’s a big issue for us,” Hedquist said.
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