Emerald Ash Borer in Summit County: Treat or Remove Your Ash Tree?
Treat an ash tree only if it has lost less than about 30 percent of its canopy, is otherwise healthy, and is worth an ongoing commitment — treatment is repeated indefinitely, not a one-time cure. Past that threshold, removal is the honest answer. Dead ash goes brittle unusually fast, so a standing dead ash near a house or drive should come down sooner rather than later.
First, Clear Up the Quarantine Question
If you have searched this before, you have probably read that Ohio’s 88 counties are under an emerald ash borer quarantine. That is out of date.
USDA APHIS published a final rule on December 15, 2020 removing the federal domestic EAB quarantine, effective January 14, 2021. APHIS no longer regulates emerald ash borer or the interstate movement of ash wood and firewood on EAB grounds. There is no current Ohio EAB quarantine, and you do not need a permit or a compliance agreement to move ash wood because of EAB.
The reasoning was straightforward and slightly bleak: the quarantine existed to slow the spread, and EAB had spread anyway across the entire regulated area. Regulating movement within a region where the insect is already everywhere accomplishes nothing.
Two things that did not change. Moving firewood is still a bad idea — it carries other pests and diseases that are not yet established everywhere, and the buy-it-where-you-burn-it guidance still stands. And your own municipality may have its own rules about tree removal and disposal that have nothing to do with EAB.
Where Things Actually Stand in Summit County
Emerald ash borer was first confirmed in Ohio in 2003. It is now established statewide, and Summit County is well past the initial wave. Ash was planted heavily here as a street and yard tree — particularly through Akron’s older neighborhoods — which means a lot of properties still have one, and a fair number of those are already dead or declining.
Untreated infested ash trees typically die within three to five years. The insect’s larvae feed in the layer just beneath the bark that carries water and nutrients up the trunk, so the tree is cut off from its own plumbing from the inside out.
How To Read Your Ash Tree
Signs, roughly in the order you’ll notice them:
- Canopy thinning from the top down. EAB works downward. Dieback that starts in the upper third is the classic early signal.
- Woodpecker damage. Heavy woodpecker activity stripping patches of bark to a lighter color — sometimes called blonding — is frequently what homeowners spot first, because the birds find the larvae before you find the holes.
- Epicormic sprouts. Shoots breaking straight out of the trunk and lower limbs. This is a tree responding to stress by trying to grow below the damage.
- D-shaped exit holes, roughly 1/8 inch across, with one flat side. Distinctive, but by the time they are visible the tree has been infested for a year or more.
- S-shaped galleries winding under loose bark. Definitive if you can peel a section.
- Bark splits running vertically over old galleries.
The Decision: Treat or Remove
The threshold arborists generally work to is 30 percent canopy loss.
Below about 30 percent dieback, treatment can genuinely work, and for the right tree it is worth it. Systemic insecticide treatments applied by a licensed applicator protect the tree, but they have to be repeated — typically every one to two years depending on the product — for as long as you want the tree. That is the part people underestimate. You are not curing the tree; you are putting it on medication indefinitely.
Treating makes sense when the tree is large enough to be genuinely valuable to the property, structurally sound, well placed, and you intend to keep it for many years. The arithmetic works out: repeat treatment on a big shade tree is usually cheaper over a decade than removing it and replacing it with something that takes thirty years to do the same job.
Above about 30 percent dieback, treatment stops being a good bet. There is not enough functional vascular tissue left to distribute the product reliably, and the tree has already lost too much to recover its structure. At that point you are paying for treatment and getting a removal a few years later anyway.
| Treat | Remove | |
|---|---|---|
| Canopy dieback | Under ~30% | Over ~30%, or dead |
| Cost pattern | Ongoing, every 1–2 years, indefinitely | One time |
| Tree condition needed | Structurally sound | Any |
| Best for | Large, healthy, well-placed trees you’ll keep | Declining, dead, or poorly placed trees |
Why Dead Ash Is Genuinely Urgent
This is the part worth taking seriously.
Dead ash does not behave like other dead hardwoods. It becomes brittle unusually fast — limbs shed without warning, and the wood becomes unsafe to climb well before the tree looks close to failing. A tree that a climber could have taken down routinely two years ago now needs a bucket truck or a crane because nobody should be putting their weight on it.
Which means the cost curve runs the wrong way. Most home maintenance gets more expensive when you wait because the problem grows. A dead ash gets more expensive because the method has to change. Standing dead ash near a house, a driveway, a public sidewalk, or a neighbor’s property is worth dealing with this season rather than next.
It also means you should be sceptical of anyone quoting a cheap price to climb a long-dead ash. That is not a bargain; it is someone taking a risk you would rather they didn’t take in your yard.
After Removal
Removal leaves a stump, and ash stumps sprout persistently if left. Grinding it 6 to 12 inches below grade takes care of that and gives you the ground back — see our stump grinding page for how that works and the cost guide for what it runs.
The wood is fine to burn locally. There is no quarantine and no restriction on using ash firewood — just burn it where it came from rather than taking it up to a campsite. Ash is excellent firewood, and it is one small consolation in an otherwise depressing situation.
Then plant something that is not an ash. The neighborhoods that got hit hardest by EAB were the ones that planted a single species down every street. Diversity is the actual lesson here.
Sources. Rules and guidance change — verify anything legal or regulatory with your own municipality before acting on it. This article is general information, not legal advice.
Talk to Someone Local
Portage Lakes Stumps is a family-run, fully insured tree service in Portage Lakes, Ohio, serving all of Summit County. If you want a real number for your tree or stump rather than a range, the estimate is free and there's no obligation.
Related
Common Questions
Is there still an emerald ash borer quarantine in Ohio?
No. USDA APHIS removed the federal domestic emerald ash borer quarantine effective January 14, 2021, and no longer regulates the movement of ash wood or firewood for EAB. A great deal of material still online says otherwise because it was written before the rule changed and never updated. There is no current Ohio EAB quarantine, and no permit is required to move ash wood on EAB grounds.
If there's no quarantine, can I move ash firewood?
Legally, yes. Practically, still don't. The quarantine ended because EAB is already established across the entire region, not because moving firewood became a good idea. Firewood moves plenty of other pests and diseases that are not yet everywhere, and the guidance from USDA and OSU Extension remains to buy and burn firewood locally. Burn it where you buy it.
How do I know if my ash tree has EAB?
The reliable signs, roughly in the order they appear are: thinning that starts at the top of the canopy and works down, sprouts breaking out of the trunk and lower limbs, D-shaped exit holes about an eighth of an inch across, S-shaped tunnels under loose bark, and heavy woodpecker activity stripping bark in patches. That last one is often what people notice first. By the time you see exit holes, the tree has been infested for a while.
How long does an untreated infested ash tree survive?
Typically three to five years from infestation to death. Emerald ash borer larvae feed in the tissue that moves water and nutrients up the trunk, so the tree is progressively strangled from the inside. Once decline starts it does not plateau.
Should I replant an ash tree?
No. EAB is established permanently across Ohio, so a new ash is a new host. Plant something else — oak, hackberry, tulip tree, or a Kentucky coffeetree all do well in Summit County. The broader lesson from EAB is diversity: neighborhoods that planted one species along every street lost every street tree at once.