Iowa State works for ash survival

Widrlechner’s seed stocks can serve as a national source for reintroducing ash trees once the devastation can be controlled.
Widrlechner, horticulturist for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture at ISU, is a curator at the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station in Ames, Iowa, responsible for collecting and maintaining seeds for several species of trees, including ash, for the USDA's National Plant Germplasm System.
As the pest devours ash tree populations on its way across North America, there may soon be few, if any, ash trees left.
“Where these borers have been present the longest, it has basically been a total wipeout,” said Widrlechner.
“That is something we rarely see in nature,” he said. “It’s uncommon for a pest to come in and just clean something out. It doesn’t just attack sick trees. Emerald ash borer attacks healthy trees. It attacks small trees. So you don't have just big, old trees falling to this, you’ve got 2 to 3 inch saplings falling to this.”
Read more about his research here.