CAN WE REALLY STOP THE EMERALD ASH BORER??

CAN WE REALLY STOP THE EMERALD ASH BORER??
If there is one thing I thought we learned from our last go around, with the Dutch Elm disease, was that you really can't get rid of or stop or slow down the spread such diseases. These types of diseases are driven in nature in such a way that there is no practical way we can possibly intervene and prevent them.
These diseases are caused by insects that invade the layer between the bark and the wood of the tree. Signs of the infected trees do not show up for many months or years. In this time the insects have spawned many new families and propagated their relatives to the surrounding trees. Even if you could identify a tree as being infected in the early stages your choices are to treat it with chemicals or cut it down. Either way the insects are not eradicated immediately nor are they eradicated from the entire area, just that tree.
The argument can be made that the fight against the on slaught of the disease is made "one tree at a time". However, when you consider these pesky little devils can fly up to three miles in all directions, this leaves a major area for the ones that escape to relocate.
When the Dutch Elm disease started to invade our community many of our old historic elms fell victim to the little critters. We hacked, and cut, and burned, and chopped, and dug out stumps, and made lots of rules. Guess what? We still have Dutch Elm disease today as bad as we did back then.... and we still have elm trees! Think of all the money that has gone to prevent the inevitable. The ironic part is we were recommended to replant ASH TREES!(see Everyone To Buy Bouevard Trees)
Now we are making plans to cut the Ash trees down before they become diseased. The city is even looking for funding to support this effort. Maybe I am just a little cynical but I say, just enjoy the Ash trees until they need to be cut down!