Power of Small

It goes without saying that grandness gets credit for being powerful. The mighty oak tree rises sixty feet above the diminutive 20-foot crab apple tree. The 80-foot long Blue Whale dwarfs the 18-inch Atlantic Herring. The stocky American Bison, weighing a solid ton, hoofs its way around the 2-pound prairie dog. The 7-foot wingspan of the Bald Eagle soars past the Chipping Sparrow with its dainty 8-inch wingspan.

Not surprisingly, nature does not always favor the most photogenic species. Enter one wee little insect, Agrilus planipennis, commonly known as Emerald Ash Borer. It is less than a third of an inch long, about the size of one grain of rice. It has been living a happy arthropod life in Asia for many years, coexisting peacefully with the native trees. And then a few adventurous Borers hitched a ride on a freight ship headed to the Great Lakes near Michigan about thirty years ago. Upon leaving the ship, the Borers discovered a tasty new food source, Green Ash trees. Yum, yum. Good for the Borers. Mega-bad for North American ash trees. One by one ash trees are losing their lives as the larvae of the Borer tunnel into the trees, cutting off the tree's food and water source when the xylem and phloem of the trees are severed. Not a pretty death.

The voracious and resilient nature of the Borer has resulted in a steady march of the bugs from east to west in North America. And here is where it gets personal. Our city just had its first Borer sighting and the battle cry has been sounded. If you have an ash tree on your property, you are responsible for removing the tree(s) or treating them. Kah-ching. Kah-ching. And, of course, we have two beautiful ash trees shading the front of our home. My readers may recall we also have a birch tree that, unbeknownst to us when we planted it, is in need of iron treatments every year. More kah-ching, kah-ching. We do not buy lottery tickets for a reason.

My husband and I are too old to think we can replace our ash trees and hope to enjoy the shade and bird harboring benefits our current trees provide. Therefore, we will become BFFs with our local arborist as we watch him inject anti-borer-juice into our ash trees and iron supplements into our birch tree. I am glad we have the option to save our trees. I am not glad about the hit to our bank account.

Meanwhile, our city is ready for war against the little beasts. Meetings are being held. Brochures are being distributed. Arborists are touting their services. Homeowners are making life and death decisions. There is no winning this fight. We can only hope to mitigate the damage and cross our fingers that the Borers move on after their ten-year cycle wraps up.

Clearly, the littlest of creatures can wield great influence. No large teeth or sharp talons required.