#white ash

[nemfrog]

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

Internet Archive

[problematic-rwby-shipping-poll]

SHIP #73 - WHITE ASH

[tomoleary]

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

[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]

[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.

[itstimeforstarwars]

I hate knowing how to sew. I hate that knowing how to sew compels me to fix my own clothes when their shoddy construction destroys them cuz I don't wanna spend another fuckin thirty dollars to replace it when I have $1 of thread. Mending is the worst and it's 90% of the sewing I do these days.

[lambf4rm]

i prefer the term ‘artificial person’ myself

[californianedgeworth]

portrait of Lana

[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."

[achieve-the-sun]

Cilan, my beloved🌱

[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.

[emotionaloof]

i need Ashe to experience the dead bisexual disaster that is william wisp

pd tumblr au: part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4