Ash Seed Project

black ash tree

NRCS plant materials specialist Dave Burgdorf and NRCS Rose Lake, Michigan, Plant Materials Center (PMC) Manager John Leif are working to preserve ash trees in the ash tree regions of the U.S. through the National Ash Tree Seed Collection Initiative.  Although the seed collections began in 2005 the National Ash Tree Seed Collection Initiative began in 2006.  

The emerald ash borer, an invasive species from China, has been decimating the ash tree population for over a decade.  The wood-boring beetle is believed to have entered the United States through Michigan in the mid-1990s and has spread to surrounding states and Canada.

The borer spreads both through natural propagation and from the transport of infested nursery stock, firewood, and sawed logs.  The borer lays eggs on the bark of ash trees and the larvae bore beneath it, starving the tree of nutrients.  An infested tree will usually die within two or three years.

established in 1958, the Rose Lake Plant Materials Center in East Lansing, Michigan, provides plant solutions for the Great Lakes Region

Michigan for example, has an estimated 700 million green, white, black, and blue ash trees.  The PMC hopes to preserve genetic material from all U.S. ash tree species in the event they are completely destroyed.

Burgdorf and Leif have partnered with the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation and the USDA Forest Service who are counting on volunteers from Tribal Nations, universities, State and local governments, agencies, groups, and individuals to collect about 3,000 seeds from ash populations in every major land resource area where ash trees grow throughout the U. S.

The plan calls for volunteers to identify and mark ash trees in the spring and summer and return in the fall to collect seeds. Tree marking identification materials are available through NRCS field offices, conservation districts, or can be found on-line.   Seed collection however, will not be as simple as it sounds as only female trees produce seeds and not all female trees produce seeds every year.  “Hopefully we’ll get seed before the ash borer wipes the tree out,” said Burgdorf.

The American Indian community has shown a strong interest in taking part in the seed collection as the black ash, used for basket weaving, is a culturally significant plant for the tribes.  NRCS Rose Lake Plant Materials Center staff will coordinate closely with tribes in their seed collection efforts. 

It is anticipated that the seed collected may be used in some way to assure that the ash trees remain part of our nations natural landscape.

Your contacts are Dave Burgdorf, NRCS plant materials specialist, at 517-641-7831, or John Leif, Manager, NRCS Rose Lake Plant Materials Center, at 517-641-6300.