TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is stepping up salvaging of trees that are dying from infestations of the emerald ash borer and beech bark disease.
Forest Resources Chief Bill O'Neill says the department has been removing beech in the eastern Upper Peninsula for several years. It's now following the trail of the killer disease into the northern Lower Peninsula.
The invasive ash borer has done most of its damage in southern Michigan, but is spreading across the northern Lower Peninsula and has reached a few spots in the U.P. The DNR's ash salvaging effort is focused primarily on Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet and Otsego counties.
Once the ash borer attacks a tree, there's a period of two to three years when the wood can be harvested before it becomes useless.
