Following years of destruction wrought by the emerald ash borer, five of the six most common ash tree species are now considered critically endangered, according to a report from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The designation means the five species are âonly one step from going extinct.â Three of the species, green ash, white ash and black ash, are the countryâs most dominant ash trees and number nearly 9 billion in the forested lands of the United States.
âTheir decline, which is likely to affect over 80 percent of the trees, will dramatically change the composition of both wild and urban forests,â said Murphy Westwood, a member of the IUCN Global Tree Specialist Group, in a statement. âDue to the great ecological and economic value of ash trees, and because removing dead ash trees is extremely costly, much research is currently underway across sectors to halt their devastating decline. This brings hope for the survival of the species.â
