Publication Details

Year Published

2015

Publication

Agricultural and Forest Entomology

Abstract

Indigenous artisans in the Great Lakes region rely on the ring-porous property of black ash Fraxinus nigra Marshall (Oleaceae), which allows annual layers of xylem to be easily separated to make baskets that are important economic resources and vessels of culture. The emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) is threatening North America’s ash resource, including black ash and this centuries-old art form, resulting in grave concern about the availability of black ash trees for basketmaking and about movement of black ash (along with A. planipennis) from areas where it is cut to lands where it is pounded and split to make baskets. We evaluated the traditional practice of storing black ash logs submerged in water as a possible method for killing within-tree life stages of A. planipennis at the same time as preserving the wood’s value for basketmaking.

Keywords

Citation

Poland, Therese M.; Ciaramitaro, Tina M.; Emery, Marla R.; Crook, Damon J.; Pigeon, Ed; Pigeon, Angie. 2015. Submergence of black ash logs to control emerald ash borer and preserve wood for American Indian basketmaking. Agricultural and Forest Entomology. 17(4): 412-420. https://doi.org/10.1111/afe.12122.