White ash (Fraxinus americana)

…it is most abundant where the forest has been removed altogether, such as along roadsides, fence rows, abandoned pastures, and flood plains— i.e. in the valley bottoms and lower slopes where most people live and work.

Dr. Michael Kudish

2009

Ash trees on Clove Rd, Ulster County, NY. Images from Google Streetview.

Background on ash collapse and development of research.

Ash exists in abundance where we have altered the landscape. It is a tree that thrives on the edges of properties and in forests that have been cut for timber. Although white ash is native to the northeast, its presence as a roadside, backyard, and key forest species is a result of land use that opened a niche for something fast growing, sunloving, and strong. Ash helped establish a modern forest, alongside the conservation efforts that followed the woods industries of the 19th century.

Field Notes

Coppicing

Emerald ash borer (EAB)

Stump sprouts are new shoots that grow from the living roots of a tree, emerging even after the trunk has died.

As EAB kills an ash, sprouts frequently appear up and down the tree, and may persist and proliferate long after collapse.

The sprouts can become mature trees themselves in some cases, but predation by deer populations is intense.