#white ash

[nemfrog]

Sections of wood of White ash. The trees of Vermont. 1916.

Internet Archive

[problematic-rwby-shipping-poll]

SHIP #73 - WHITE ASH

[aisling-saoirse]

White Ash - Fraxinus pensylvanica

For this post I'm going to discuss the snags and reason I got back into ecology: The Ash Tree

Around the 1990s an insect from northeastern Asia was accidentally introduced to the Continental United States, by 2002 this insect was identified in Michigan after destroying several million acres of forest, this insect was the Emerald Ash Borer. The borer's larvae consume the living inner bark layer (leaving an interesting pattern), ultimately starving the tree of nutrients. The bark will often flake or peel off. By the year 2015, there were signs that the borer had spread to the east coast, its journey likely accelerated by the spread of firewood from infected logs, by 2019 nearly every mature Ash tree in Northern New Jersey was killed.

I grew up in a yard with twelve 150 year old Ash trees, the yard was adjacent to a section of Ash dominant forest, I watched the slow decline of all these trees, for half a decade I hoped our trees would be lucky enough to survive but unfortunately they all died within a few summers. Although the White Ash trees I encountered were wild from a 20th century clear-cut, they were a fairly common street tree around the northeast, straight growing, lovely bark and unfortunately most of the nursery stock was derived from a similar gene pool. There was little genetic diversity and many suburban neighborhoods were wiped of Ash trees. Many Ash trees were infested and look like the section of log I saved from my yard now (image below)

Suburban yards aside I quickly began to notice entire sections of forest filled with standing deadwood (image below). Worse yet white ash wasn't the only ash species affected, the entire genus is at risk. American Ash species often occupy a unique niche in cultivating young organisms which grow in vernal pools, the leaves of american ash are low in tannin, meaning they're one of the few leaves which are a suitable food source for young frog tadpoles. The loss of the ash means damage to American frog populations. It also means insects which utilized ash as a host are also at risk.

Ash also has quite a lovely ethnobotanical history, black ash is famous amoung various tribes around the northeast for its use in basket weaving. Historically Lenape elders would use the juice from white ash leaves for reducing swelling. More modern settler usages revolve around using the elastic yet study wood for baseball bats, oars, hockey sticks, and tool handles. My friends father used to raid his boss's construction sites at night to harvest ash slated for removal and deliver it to a baseball bat manufacturer for a decent payout. Ash also has a lovely grain visible in the broken log in the second image

Ash forests now eerie snag filled openings which creak and occasionally fall on unsuspecting hikers. The thought of watching an entire forest ecosystem go really bothered me, ash swamps are unique, varied, there's something almost indescribable about growing up hearing early spring chirps from little tree frogs at night which are now silent. I left my job in architecture and started pursuing a degree related to landscape architecture and ecological planning (not that this is the answer). I started propagating ash trees where I could and planting them around. Unfortunately ash can't immediately return, invasive species often outcompete ash trees in their former forest, the added pressure ultimately reduces their ability to regenerate. The borer has spread so far there is little we can do to remove it, however there is a positive effect with biological control via the borers' specific parasitic wasp.

Is this the end of the ash? Hopefully not. I still find saplings throughout the woods, ash can be aggressive in the right conditions, can they survive into maturity is another question. Perhaps in another century, more will return, and ash will occupy our woods once more. Like the Chestnut work is being done to breed more resistant species.

[lauramariescorner]

[tomoleary]

Jae and June Lee - White Ash Season 2 #1 (2021) Source

[james-in-pace]

Beautiful illustration of leaves from Catskill Mountain trees - these can be found on the Mountain Top Arboretum https://www.mtarboretum.org/native-trees-gallery

[geocyclist]

Finished end table, white ash with linseed oil and paste wax.

[machazer]

Line to be outside of our minds.

[lambf4rm]

i prefer the term ‘artificial person’ myself

[achieve-the-sun]

Cilan, my beloved🌱

[sparklepocalypse]

And I thought maybe next summer we could come back here for like a couple weeks…

You ever see a photo and think “well now this needs to be art”? Thank you thank you THANK YOU to the inimitable @seanchaidh7 for bringing my vision to life with this commissioned piece! I’m absolutely stunned by how gorgeous this is and how well you always translate my thoughts into art. ❤️🤍💙

[Support your local artist!]

[problematic-rwby-shipping-poll]

ABUSE BRACKET - ROUND ONE: BAKED ALASKA VS WHITE ASH

Propaganda is below the cut.

BAKED ALASKA

"my vision for this is yandereXfemme fatale they are unhealthily obsessed with each other."

WHITE ASH

"attempted murder is cinder's love language."

[aisling-saoirse]

Threatened Species Post:

A honeysuckle died near my neighbors fence, when I accidentally knocked the snag over I noticed a 6 foot tall White Ash sapling was tangled in the wood! I untangled the trunk and staked the tree so my neighbor didn't try to pull it. I'm hoping in the future this sapling grows as large as the giants we lost, as a kid I used to swing from the branches of a massive ash tree, this is quite likely its progeny.

I'll try to protect this one, the emerald ash borer tends to ignore young trees, don't be afraid to save/grow your own, update y'all in maybe a year.

[ashuribbon]

Dirty Night Clowns

[ Reblogs > Likes /nm ]

[endys]

The demo for Snow White Ashes, a dark, romantic fairy tale VN, is out now!

One winter night, you meet a hunter in the woods: A man so warm and gentle you feel as if you've known him all your life.

But appearances can be deceiving. 

You'd know that well, wouldn't you?

Snow White Ashes is a romance visual novel (GxB) made for a couple of end of year game jams, and playable now on itch.io!

The demo includes:

6k words

1 ending with 2 variants*

Hand drawn artwork (5 CGs)

An original piano-based soundtrack

One charming, not at all bloodthirsty love interest

You, a completely innocent and guileless heroine.

Game link (itch.io)

(For long time friends: Yes, this is a reboot of some very, very old OCs in the Mistwalker verse. I hope you'll enjoy what their new story has to offer!)