Collecting ash seeds in hopes of a second chance for this wood species.

We harvest ash trees in the production of our thermally modified wood. Most of the ash trees used in our production have been killed off due to the Emerald Ash Borer Beetle, an invasive beetle that was initially found in our province of Ontario in 2002. Move forward to today and all Ash trees across Canada and the United States are currently threatened by the emerald ash borer.

In Fredericton, the Atlantic Forestry Center of Natural Resources serves as a seed bank for all tree species across Canada. 2019 is being described as a very important year for the ash species. White ash trees only produce seeds every five to seven years. This is because it takes a long time for trees to gather the resources to produce a healthy seed crop. It’s also tied to an evolutionary tactic called predator satiation, where species will release seeds all at once to reduce the probability of an individual organism being eaten.

This year it’s expected that the ash trees will be produce an abundance of seeds and it’s the hope of the research center that collections of healthy seeds will be aggressively pursued in an effort to revitalize the species in the long term. This could be the last opportunity to get a good collection of seeds from healthy trees that still remain. It’s feared that when the next collection of seeds will be available the emerald ash borer could have really exploded across the entire country and will have lost a lot of genetic diversity.

CFP Woods continues to harvest the ash species and supports private and government initiatives in hopes of someday finding a solution which will once again let the ash species thrive in North America. We are proud stewards of the forest and understand the importance of our role in responsibly harvesting our forests for the benefit of current and future generations.

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