bad news for trees

The emerald ash borer has reached Cook County forests. The only thing that mitigates this news, IMO, is that ash varieties are a small fraction of the trees in our forests, and that the emerald ash borer only likes ash trees.

Oaks are a much higher percentage of our forest trees. Ash trees were heavily planted along city and suburban streets to replace elm trees destroyed by Dutch elm disease and other trees infested with the Asian longhorned beetle, which likes many different tree species.