Local Nature Preserve Cutting Down Trees To Help The Environment
By Marcy Norton
MEDIA, Pa. (CBS) -- Chainsaws will be revving up later this month at the Natural Lands Trust, Hildacy Preserve in Media. The nature preserve is opting to cut down some trees under attack by an aggressive insect.
The emerald ash borer has been destroying Pennsylvania's ash trees for years, and preserve manager Michael Coll says the trust has had to make a difficult choice.
"With the expectation that these trees will likely die within the next five to ten years, we are proactively harvesting them."
Coll says in a few weeks, workers will cut down about two acres of healthy, ash trees, and sell the wood, while it's still usable. Then, the trust can use the profit to restore the preserve's ecosystem - removing undesirable, non-native vines and shrubs, and replacing them with native species, and eventually, new canopy trees.
He says this is a better option than spraying to kill the ash borer, because the insecticide is expensive and can also kill beneficial insects that are part of the habitat.
