Ash Borer and CGs

[FL-JOE]

It has been several years since much about the Ash borer has been in the news.  I checked online to get an update and it seems that it is still killing trees throughout the Midwest and east.  We all are used to seeing the signs and rules about "no outside firewood allowed" after this started years ago.

What made me start thinking about this again was my conversation with one of the park district maintenance guys this morning where we are camped.  It is a local park district owned/operated CG.  I was telling him about a large tree limb that fell from a "green" tree two days ago in one of the sites.  It hit the side of a late model Newmar Essex class A and tore a mirror off and caused other damage.  He told me that he hadn't looked at the tree to see if it was infected, or even an Ash tree, but starting this fall they were going to start cutting down any and all trees that showed any signs of being infected.  I know there are many Ash trees in this park.  He said in another 2 or 3 years this older campground would look more like a huge parking lot with hookups rather than a riverside campground.

As we continue to travel through this part of the country I am going to start paying attention to what trees I park under and what condition they are in.   Just something to maybe think about.

[Pat & Pete]

1 hour ago, FL-JOE said:

It has been several years since much about the Ash borer has been in the news.  I checked online to get an update and it seems that it is still killing trees throughout the Midwest and east.  We all are used to seeing the signs and rules about "no outside firewood allowed" after this started years ago.

What made me start thinking about this again was my conversation with one of the park district maintenance guys this morning where we are camped.  It is a local park district owned/operated CG.  I was telling him about a large tree limb that fell from a "green" tree two days ago in one of the sites.  It hit the side of a late model Newmar Essex class A and tore a mirror off and caused other damage.  He told me that he hadn't looked at the tree to see if it was infected, or even an Ash tree, but starting this fall they were going to start cutting down any and all trees that showed any signs of being infected.  I know there are many Ash trees in this park.  He said in another 2 or 3 years this older campground would look more like a huge parking lot with hookups rather than a riverside campground.

As we continue to travel through this part of the country I am going to start paying attention to what trees I park under and what condition they are in.   Just something to maybe think about.

That has always been our practice . Trees drop 'stuff' , no matter if infected or not . 

[Mr. Camper]

We check on this as well, but for those who don't know exactly what to look for the attached site will help you learn what to look for.

https://treedoctor.msu.edu/ash/ashtree_id

[kb0zke]

Almost all of the State and Federal campgrounds we've been to in the past few years require that you use local wood only. For the weekend camper that may not be much of a problem. Full-timers will buy a bundle or two of wood at the park. The problem comes when you buy more than you use. The natural inclination is to take it with you. Unfortunately, the next park isn't all that close to where your wood came from, so it isn't local.

When we were at a State park in TN, the wood they sold had been heat treated to kill the bug. They didn't want even locals bringing in wood from the tree they cut down from the front yard.

On the other hand, the wood for sale at this NW MO State Park comes from SW MO. Go figure.

Then, to add to the confusion, COE campgrounds encourage you to pick up fallen branches, but MO parks forbid it. You can pick up what's on your campsite, but that's it.

[fly2low]

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10 hours ago, Pat & Pete said:

Trees drop 'stuff' , no matter if infected or not .

One time we were sitting in our RV, and heard a loud whump from outside.  Felt the ground shake.  Went outside to find a large branch, about 6 inches at its base, lying on the ground.  It was a limb from a healthy sweetgum.  Talked to a ranger, and he said something like They do that sometimes.  When we got home, I had a tree service come and take out one we had on our property.

[Kirk W]

There really don't need to be any unhealthy trees near your RV site for that sort of thing to happen. This past July we were at Cross Ranch State Park in ND when a big storm took out many limbs and tore down trees. No trees fell on an RV but there were 3 people who had minor damage and our truck was one of them as this large limb came from probably 30' up and grazed our truck. It could have been really bad had it gone the other direction from the tree it was torn from as that would have put it on the travel trailer directly over our bed where we were sleeping.

The only way to be 100% sure that nothing of the sort will happen to you is to never camp near any trees. Of course if we had not been in the trees that storm might have blown our trailer over!

[bigjim]

Close is a relative term in regard to trees.  A couple of years ago lightning struck a tree far enough from my trailer that it couldn't fall on it but it actually blew chunks of wood far enough for it to hit it. I lucked out as it went just past mine and hit the rv next to me.   Another tree was hit but it was far enough away to not hit anything significant.  Wonder what the odds are on something like that.

[FL-JOE]

We will probably average staying in 20 to 25 parks during 2018.  Even being careful and checking a site before going into it you can still get storm damage or have something fall on your RV or blow into it.  What might help us a little is the fact that we always try to get sites that are not directly under big trees mainly due to our satellite dish on top of the RV has to be able to get a signal.  

[RV_]

We always are aware of where we park cars and RVs, even in our backyard. Don't just look for one species, all trees drop limbs small or large and some species self prune and drop more and larger branches than others. I never was much of an ag type and barely distinguish one tree from another save the nasty ones here like cottonwoods and &#:-@ sweet gums.

Here, and in states that have been in drought, the immune systems of many trees make them more susceptible to a variety of blights, wilts, caused by a variety of fungal infections. I have all old growth oaks of every variety and those "*&%/$#:@ sweet gum trees that took over when we cleared away the last pines and clear cut the back three acres. We lost five or ten very large old red, white, post oaks we wanted to keep in the landscape. We had a severe three year drought that ended a few years back that resulted in losses, and after a year or two break, are again back in drought conditions. I expect to lose more this year as the drought we are now in again causes blights to take hold.

Avoid parking under any trees that look like these: https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=oak+wilt&qpvt=oak+wilt&FORM=IARRSM

Or these: https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=oak+blight&qpvt=oak+blight&FORM=IGRE

Drought and climate changes accelerate the spread of these tree parasites and infections. We all have five acres or more around here and have no fires except for my burn pile in the back to burn my tree debris and trimmings.

Ash aren't the only species to watch out for.

[DJohns]

I live in Nebraska where we are watching for pine beetles from the west and ash borer from the east. You are supposed to burn it where you buy it. However the wood it cut and packaged in Colorado and Nebraska forestry dept says they have no laws to prevent importing fire wood. Our VERY INTELLIGENT government at work!

[Kirk W]

The tree limb in my picture was from a boxelder tree. The raw limb showed no bug damage at all at the point where it sheared off. There were larger trees in the park which were broken off or uprooted and most of those were cottonwood.