SHERBURNE – Foresters breathed a sigh of relief last week as the July 1 date for closing the state’s last remaining tree nursery came and went without any directive from Albany.
It appears that the 98-year old Saratoga Tree Nursery will survive yet another New York State budget.
“Everybody’s relieved,” said Paul Romanenko, forester for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Rogers Environmental Education Center in Sherburne.
The news is particularly good for perpetuating native species such as red pine, white pine, red oak and sugar maple. Those species and others are being threatened by invasive insects and diseases such as the Forest Tent Caterpillar, Emerald Ash Borer, Syrex Woodwasp, and Hemlock Woolly.
The nursery should be kept to replace killed and salvaged timber, said Roy Hopke, a consulting forester from Chenango Forks and a member of the New York State Forest Practice Board and American Chestnut Foundation.
“This was not the time for the state to be jumping off the cliff. It should not be shut down as a casualty of the budget problems in this state. In some areas, there would be no means to replace timber without the affordable seedlings produced by the state nursery,” he said.
Forests cover almost two thirds of the state. The nursery annually distributes 1.2 million seedlings that are used for a variety of purposes from erosion prevention and habitat improvement to wildlife food and wetland mitigation.
The ash borer, which has been making it’s way to Western New York over the past two years, was recently found in a woodlot in Cattaraugus County. Romanenko said the DEC isn’t sure yet of the extent of the infestation. However, any species of ash could be threatened, whether in nearby state and national forests or in urban environments where the steadfast ash is commonly planted.
Currently, only those sawmills that have an official DEC agreement in affect can handle ash from the infected areas. And, because of the outbreak, a new state law restricts the movement of firewood further than 50 miles.
Hopke said he has 340 ash trees already harvested in Cattaraugus County and just waiting to be sold.
