MOUNT GILEAD — The Emerald ash borer claimed yet another tree in the village. The tree is on the property of village council member Jamie Brucker on East Marion Street.
Brucker said the tree is 44 inches in diameter and estimates it to be 150 to 200 years old or more. He said it is a hard wood tree and since rings are very close together, it’s difficult to know its exact age.
Several interesting shapes, like a heart and the shape of Ohio, were found in the cuttings of the tree.
The tree had to be taken down last week because it had died and was a threat to falling onto the neighbor’s house. Brucker thought it has probably been dying since the Ash borer blight came through the area 10 or 12 years ago.
He said there are a number of other trees in the village that are diseased from the ash borer and will need to be taken down.
Brucker is a woodworker as well as a funeral director for Snyder Funeral Home. He plans to make a table top and other furniture from the wood. In the meantime he will build a pole barn on his property to store the wood and he’ll also use the barn to store materials for Morrow Little Theatre.
The wood from the Ash trees is known to be fairly valuable now because it has become rare due to the disease spreading in the United States. Brucker said that Ash was known in the past as the “poor man’s oak.” The wood has a similar light color as oak.
The tree was cut and taken down by Blue Denim Tree Service of Mount Vernon.
