WHITE ASH (fraxinus americana)
White ash is one of the most common species of trees in North America. Even in winter, without foliage, the white ash tree can be easily identified by the light-gray color of its bark, as well as its texture of interweaving ridges that forms a diamond-like pattern.
Ecological Relationships: The white ash often grows near sugar maple trees, which can also be found along this trail. Its seeds are consumed by many birds, including wood duck, wild turkey, purple finch, ruffed grouse, cardinals, and pine grosbeaks, and twigs are browsed by white-tailed deer. Mice, rabbits, porcupines, and beavers eat the bark.
But perhaps the most unique role that white ash plays in forest ecology is that of a food source for North American frogs. Vernal pools– depressions that fill up with water and melting snow in the spring, forming shallow pools in which amphibians can breed and grow– often form beneath white ash trees. When leaves fall, they are then eaten by tadpoles and other young amphibians. Chesterwood’s variegated old-growth landscape makes it ideal for the formation of vernal pools, and each spring this forest helps protect at least seven native species of amphibians, including the endangered blue-spotted salamander and yellow-spotted salamander.
Ecological Threats: Emerald ash borer. Because of this highly destructive invasive species, in the last twenty-five years, the white ash has gone from being one of the most abundant species of trees to being critically endangered. However, a white ash tree, sheltered from environmental stressors and growing wild in a mixed old-growth forest like Chesterwood, is far more resistant to emerald ash borer attacks than trees growign in highly cultivated or urban areas.