Finally a town has stepped forward to risk $6500 to save 30,000 ash trees. That is 23 cents per ash tree. The USDA wants the town to spend over $40,000,000 when an infestation is discovered. If I am right the emerald ash borer beetle will not infect the ash trees. If the trees are already infected, when the EAB emerges it will not be able to find a food source and will go to the next town or die of starvation. There are some experiments we will try that may actually kill the larvae of the EAB in the ash tree. In the West the bronze birch borer infestation was actually reversed by injecting biogenesis in the root system of the birch tree. No chemicals will be used.

This is an opportunity to save Illinois billions of dollars. When I started this project 6 months ago, I thought a new idea would be welcomed after the devastation of Michigan. Entomologists, arborists, foresters and politicians (except for Sen Kirk) shunned me. All I wanted to do was provide an inexpensive alternative to cutting down millions of healthy ash trees.....Rick

90 days and counting until the emerald ash borer beetle will be coming out of its hole. The infestation in Wilmette could be over 2 years old and Winnetka over a year. How many trees are infected is a mystery, but we will get an idea in the Spring. The USDA is maintaining their search and destroy program that worked so well in Michigan. Wilmette and Winnetka have more than 20,000 ash trees each. This is going to be expensive if we cannot find an alternative way to discourage the EAB. There is a way to determine if the tree is infested without cutting it down! ( Ask any arborist! ). Until we find a town that is willing to take a little financial risk, the North Shore will look like Detroit, and the homeowners will foot the bill.

Installing a field tuner in your town is a no lose proposition. The field tuner will energize the soil and will energize your trees and plants. Your plants and trees will be healthier and look better than ever before. Injecting biogenesis into the root structure of your ash trees will break down the nutrients in the soil so they can be absorbed more easily by the ash tree. The goal is healthy trees, if the ash borer beetle does not recognize a healthy ash tree as a home or food source it will go elsewhere. How much does this cost? The field tuner can be as little as $6500 for an area less than 4000 acres or $25,000 per 36 square miles. Biogenesis injections per ash tree could be $16-$32 the first year for residents. Illinois received $7.6 million from the USDA. The USDA has spent over $100 million. Where has all the money gone?

The field tuner is not for a private home. Most towns north of Chicago have thousands of ash trees at risk. How many ash trees are in the Chicago Forest Preserves, Morton Arb, Botanic Gardens, your favorite golf course or country club? Are there any guarantees, no? The alternative is cutting down all the ash trees within 1/2 mile of an infected ash tree. I see that as a problem, not a solution.

Rick Day

thenaturaledge@comcast.net

Illinois has been quarrantined and no one cares and most people don't know. When spring comes and the emerald ash borer beetle come out of hiding, there will be a panic. The arborists will be licking their chops, so many trees to cut down, so little time. Maybe, just maybe there is a technology that might confuse the ash borer beetle and it will not visit your house, your neighborhood, your golf course, your forest preserve etc. But no one is listening, until a beetle crawls out of your ash tree, then it might be too late. Sometimes it takes a unique solution to solve a unique problem.

There is only one guarantee I can offer. If we do nothing to try to thwart the emerald ash borer beetle it will continue to infest our ash trees until there are none left. The cost to the State of Illinois will be billions of dollars. The cost to Illinois home owners will be billions of dollars. The cost to golf courses will be billions of dollars. Then the EAB will continue north to Wisconsin, west to Iowa, south to Missouri and Kentucky.

Our government tells us the only action we can take is quarantine an area of infestation and cut down all the ash trees within ½ mile. We are allowing a beetle smaller than a dime to beat us. I propose to try something new and I am ignored. This technology has been used against other insects and beetles in the pacific northwest SUCCESSFULLY. If the technology does not work on ash trees only a few dollars will be lost, but if the emerald ash borer beetle cannot find food and lodging it will die and we will save millions of ash trees. The USDA and the IDA have blinders on, they can only find reasons not to listen.

The private sector will lose the most. In the end “we the people” will foot the bill.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resouces says:

Fact: The EAB has already distroyed 20 million trees in the 5 midwest states at a removal cost of $10 billion (on the low side) and another $10 billion to replace.

Fact: It has been estimated that there are 110 million ash trees in Illinois.

Fact: The 110 million ash trees in Illinos provide enough oxygen for 11 million people.

Fact: The cost to Illinois communities can range from $8,000 for the smallest to $1.2 billion for Chicago.

Fact: The cost to a homeowner for each infested ash tree would be $1,000 for removal and another $1,000 for replacement and carting off the infested wood. The state could require that you remove all ash trees on your property whether infected or not.

For more bad news.. http://dnr.state.il.us/conservation/forestry

I maintain the infestation of an ash tree by an emerald ash borer beetle is a symptom of a stressed tree not a cause. Why does everyone tell me an EAB can infest a healthy tree? That statement goes against Nature. When I ask, "how can you possibly know?" there is dead silence on the phone. Everyone is passing on what one person has said without knowing why. Some one give me a good explanation.

What I am trying to do would be fun if it weren't so sad. The only solution proposed is to quarantine and cut down all ash trees within 1/2 mile of an infested tree. That's not a solution, that's a disaster! Our trees are precious.

We have to treat our trees with biogenesis and install as many field tuners as we can. Email me with your comments at thenaturaledge@comcast.net . It is becoming obvious to me that no one wants to accept a new idea.