Welcome to Environmental Literacy Classroom

Ash Trees: An American Icon

American (aka White) Ash* | Fraxinus americana and

Green (aka Red, Swamp or Water) Ash** | Fraxinus pennsylvanica

*Native deciduous tree

Size and Shape

-12-25 m (39-82 ft) tall

-Trunk up to 60 cm (2 ft) in diameter

Leaves

-15-30 cm long, opposite, pinnately compound with seven to nine leaflets (occasionally five to eleven)

-5-15 cm long and 1.2-9 mc broad

-Serrated leaf margins

Bark

-Smooth and gray on young trees, becomes thicker with interlocking ridges

Flowers & Fruits

Flowers form clusters along the branch and are pollenated via wind. The female flowers will develop into a cluster of samaras (winged fruit), which will be carried on the wind to root nearby.

History & Uses

Due to its strength, hardness, high shock resistance, and preferred bending qualities, American Ash can be used to manufacture tool handles, baseball bats, furniture, and many more items. Ancient chariots and 19^th-century coach wagons used ash varieties for axles. Post-Roman Europe considered Old World ash trees to be sacred representations of Yggdrasil, the world-tree of Norse mythology, as well as a very useful wood for making tools and weapons. The very word “ash” itself comes from aesc, the Greek word for spear. American settlers would likewise use American ash sap as a mosquito repellent and natural cure-all for bumps, bruises, and itches. Fender Guitars used wood of American ash in its famed Stratocaster and Telecaster lineup, switching to alder in the 21^st Century as American ash faced environmental hazards.

Environmental Concerns

Once a common sight in American forests, Fraxinus americana has since been vastly decimated by the emerald ash borer, an invasive species of beetle native to Eastern Asia. While Eurasian varieties of ash tree are protected by hardier saps, and predatory birds and insects that keep emerald ash borer populations in check, New World varieties of ash have no such defenses. Since first being spotted in 2002 in Michigan, the ash borer has spread like wildfire over the North American continent, killing an estimated twenty million American ash trees and rendering the American and Green ash species critically endangered. Ash borers have been identified in thirty-six American states and five Canadian provinces, and they continue to spread across North America in what is described by botanists as “the most significant invasive species outbreak in American history”.

Virginia has been hard-hit by the blight, losing many tens of thousands of ash trees. As ash trees die off in the blight, they leave enormous gaps in local ecosystems—ash trees provide key sources of food and shelter for frogs and tadpoles, as well as seeds for birds and shelter for mammals foraging in American forests. Without ash trees, these ecosystems are disrupted, leading many more species to die off or disappear from our forests, costing states billions in funds to remediate public lands.  The blight also costs Americans a priceless natural heritage.

Ash borers infest a tree by laying eggs in the bark, where nymphs and pupae burrow into the tree’s soft core to feed. This process inevitably kills the ash tree. Saving ash trees thus means combating the borer infestation early, and often. A systemic insecticide applied by a certified pesticide technician to young ash trees can aid in suppressing emerald ash borers.

*Pictured- registered technician Jordan Knick, and certified arborist Hunter Campbell, both of Arboristry Associates, Inc., Faber, VA, a Davey Company. They are pretreating a Green Ash at RVF’s Spruce Creek Park campus. Due to the small-diameter size, this tree was treated with an annual systemic bark spray to aid in emerald ash borer suppression.

Contact your local arborist to see if your tree is a candidate for treatment!

*Pictured is registered technician (Arboristry, a Davey Co.), Jordan Knick, and certified arborist (Arboristry, a Davey Co.), Hunter Campbell, pre-treatment of RVF’s Green Ash at its Spruce Creek Park campus. Due to the small diameter size, an annual systemic bark spray was applied to aid in emerald ash borer suppression.

Ash Trees and RVF

Rockfish Valley Foundation is proud to maintain some of the last remaining American and Green Ash trees in the Rockfish Valley. We have five distinct examples of these magnificent plants on our trail systems across Nelson County.

Our most notable example is located approximately 120 yards upstream from the Camille Trail Parking Lot and is marked by a Virginia Department of Forestry sign. This incredible tree is known locally as the Ewing Ash, for the Ewing family farm that resided nearby (and was tragically destroyed during Hurricane Camille—see the ENLIT trail module on Hurrican Camille for more details).

We believe the Ewing Ash to be nearly 70 years old—a textbook specimen of old-growth ash trees that once dominated North America’s forests, from Nova Scotia to Texas. This tree has seen profound changes in the landscape come and go—the disappearance of rockfish species from the Rockfish River, the devastation of Hurricane Camille, and the emergence of brewing, winemaking, distilling, and other cornerstones of the Rockfish Valley’s agritourism industry.

We at RVF consider ash trees to be more than just beautiful additions to a great American landscape, but also important markers and living testimonials of our community’s environmental history.

This ENLIT module made possible through the generous efforts of the Davey Tree.

The Rockfish Valley Foundation works to protect and educate on the land, air, waters, and living history of the Rockfish Valley. We are volunteer-led and donor-funded. For information on donating or volunteering please visit us at rockfishvalley.org