I live in [LOCATION REDACTED] in the eastern half of the US, in a foresty area. Up until about 20 years ago, the forests here were full of Ash trees. These beautiful trees have brilliant scarlet-to-purple fall foliage, extremely tough and sturdy timber, and are fast-growing and adaptable. Five species of ash grew here: Blue, White, Green, Black, and Pumpkin Ash. In the late Aughts, the Emerald Ash Borer was identified in my county. Since then, the ashes have been utterly devastated. Only one of these species has any amount of resistance to the borer (Blue Ash). The rest have mortality rates around 99%. Walking through the nearby forests feels like a warzone. Dead ashes upon dead ashes, everywhere. I attempted to capture this devastation by taking pictures of as many of these dead trees as I could.
