Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is an invasive exotic insect pest that threatens all native ash (Fraxinus) species in the United States. To prepare for the imminent arrival of EAB in our city, the Cincinnati, Ohio Park Board’s Natural Resource Management Section and its Urban Forestry Advisory Board created an EAB Management Plan. The plan included a Wood Utilization Task Force to study the potential end use of ash wood in quarantined, heavily populated Hamilton County, Ohio. A partnership was formed with the Cincinnati Public Schools to incorporate ash wood into the construction and furnishings of new public schools.  

Cincinnati covers approximately 88 square miles (sq hec) and has a population of approximately 350,000 residents. It has a relatively high tree canopy cover of 37%, of which an estimated 10% is comprised of native ash such as Fraxinus americana, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, and Fraxinus quadrangulata. The City has 1000 miles (km) of public streets that are lined with 80,000 public street trees. Ash species represent 7.5% of all street trees. The Cincinnati Park Board’s Natural Resource Management Section manages the street trees and 5,000 acres (hec) of forested park property.

In 2007 the Cincinnati Park Board developed a plan to manage the impact of EAB on public and private trees in the city. The purpose of developing the plan was to:

•determine an effective response to the EAB threat to our urban forest resource;
•responsibly implement and communicate clear, effective actions to residents and stakeholders;
•attenuate the economic and social disruption EAB can cause to the city;
•proactively manage for EAB in advance of the invasion;
•mitigate budget and service impact by distributing removal and replacement costs over a manageable time period;
•avoid costs associated with compliance agreements required for wood transport within a quarantined county; and
•reduce impact of canopy loss by replanting suitable species during the phased removal of ash.

The plan also addressed wood utilization and dispersal:   
The City will work with the County and other partners to develop a plan to use the wood generated during the removal program. The plan must comply with the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s regulations for handling regulated materials. Wood that cannot be used for lumber, firewood, or mulch will be disposed of according to ODA specifications.     

The Wood Utilization Task Force was formed by interested and expert professionals representing the Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District, Cincinnati Park Board, Hamilton County Parks, Ohio Department of Natural Resources staff, Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, portable sawmill contractors, and local wood utilization expert Sam Sherrill. Among this talented group of experts, it quickly became apparent that the mechanism to process lumber from condemned ash and other valuable species was simple. The difficulty was locating a sustainable market for ash lumber in an ash-laden market. The task force operated under the following goal:

To investigate and develop a plan for finding a higher and better use for ash trees. The plan could include marketing ash trees to private sector outlets (aside from chipping the material), options for sawmilling, end markets for milled lumber, and increasing awareness on the uses of ash to the building industry.

While the Wood Utilization Task Force was meeting to locate or develop a market for ash products, the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) were developing a Facilities Master Plan for their Buildings Going Green program. CPS is adding environmentally friendly elements to its school construction, creating “green” buildings that are models of efficiency and conservation. CPS adopted the Urban Timber program as one of their 10 initiatives for sustainable design.

The Cincinnati Park Board approved an agreement with CPS to provide up to 20,000 board feet (m) of lumber to CPS annually. CPS pays the Park Board $1.00 for each board foot delivered to the sawmill. The Park Board incurs $0.60 in direct costs to saw and deliver each board foot; the remaining $0.40 is used for reforestation of City park and street trees.

The program’s pilot year, 2008, included research, contracting, and refining the following steps:
1.Cincinnati Park Board removes dead/dying trees and harvests quality logs as part of the Park Board’s preventive maintenance program.
2.Cincinnati Park Board contracts with a portable sawmill operator to rough-saw ash and oak trees that were harvested. The logs are sawn locally to remove the phloem due to the guidelines of the EAB quarantine in Hamilton County.
3.Cincinnati Park Board transports the rough-sawn lumber to Wilhelm Lumber in southern Indiana, where CPS takes ownership of the wood.
4.Cincinnati Park Board bills CPS for each board foot of lumber delivered.
5.Wilhelm Lumber prepares the wood by kiln drying, planing, and transporting it to the furniture manufacturer Creative Shapes, located in Hamilton County.
6.Creative Shapes manufactures bookcases and coat closets for CPS.

In 2008, a total of 33 pieces of furniture, or 4,400 board feet (m), was placed in four schools. CPS will construct 24 schools between 2009 and 2013 and each school will require at least 50 bookcases and 100 coat closets. One school can utilize over 10,000 board feet (m) for these two pieces of furniture, and CPS desires to expand this program to include library shelving and gymnasium flooring. Currently, Cincinnati Park Board can only supply up to 20,000 board feet (m) annually, which accounts for less than 5% of the total project potential each year for the next four years. By expanding the size of the urban timber program, it is anticipated that up to 45,000 (m) board feet of lumber could be supplied to CPS in 2009 and 2010. This is material that would otherwise be turned into mulch, a much lower use for the material.

Future goals of the project aim to:
•provide up to 45,000 board feet of lumber to be used by CPS annually through 2013;
•train over 50 private sector tree companies and municipalities on the proper way to harvest a tree for useable lumber;
•train potentially 20 sawmill owners and operators on the uses for urban timber;
•educate more than 6,000 students on the urban timber program through classroom instruction and at special events;
•provide funding for reforestation. ncinnati Park Board and Cincinnati Public Schools have developed an urban timber program designed to use the material for its highest and best use, for durable products rather than firewood or mulch. To date, the second batch of lumber has been sawn for CPS. The partnership seeks to expand the program and develop an opportunity for all of Ohio that includes workforce development, education, and recycling at an unprecedented level The Urban Timber Program is a great example of diverting a waste stream and producing a valuable product, one that can be replicated in other communities affected by EAB.