Facility Services

UWSP campus plan for dealing with the Emerald Ash Borer ( EAB) A brief history of the Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire); It arrived in the United States in 2002 through the port of Detroit. EAB has been spreading throughout the United States since then killing millions of ash trees.

The Beetle only affects ash trees. Actually, it is the EAB larvae that does the damage to the ash trees. The larvae feed just beneath the bark and cut off the vessels that transport nutrients and water throughout the tree, eventually killing the tree.

UWSP has developed a plan for the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) infestation which has been detected in the city of Stevens Point.  Three blocks from the UWSP campus, the city of Stevens Point has detected an infestation of the EAB on Center Street. The UWSP Facility Services tree plan has emphasized diversity in its tree species and this is a perfect example why. UWSP has just over 2000 trees on campus. Of those trees we have 109 ash trees that potentially can be affected by the EAB.  That adds up to about 5% of our campus trees that could be potentially lost to this beetle. 

WE should be very proud of our management of our trees on campus, to have such a diverse amount of tree species. It is critical to have this type of diversity when issues like this present themselves.  Possibly losing 5% of our trees is manageable.  Some municipalities have 30-50% ash that make up their tree inventory and this beetle will have a devastating impact on their community.

The Campus plan to manage this infestation includes the following:

• Facility Services is collaborating with the College of Natural Resources.  Specifically with Dr. Rich Hauer (Forestry Professor) who has hired a student and has created a research project for this student.  For the next 3 years Dr. Hauer has funding for the student and chemicals.  They will be doing a variety of research.  Using different methods to treat the ash trees and at different frequencies.  All the trees will be tagged with a number to assist in the research.

• After this 3 year program, we will re-evaluate the management plan and see if funding sources will continue or we will explore finding other funding sources to continue to pay for the treatments. If that is not possible, we will start removing ash trees based on their health.

• Below is a map of locations for all the ash trees on campus (this does not include Schmeeckle Reserve). Over the next 3 years we will be planting a variety of trees in the areas around our ash trees in preparation for a possible future removal of the ash tree. Planting new trees in these areas will help reduce the canopy loss if or when an ash tree needs to be removed.
  

​​​Ash Tree Location Map

If you have any questions about EAB or our plan, please let me know by writing to cbrindle@uwsp.edu​