Project Overview:
The MaMA Ash/EAB Surveys project was developed by and is coordinated by the Ecological Research Institute (ERI) as one of the three distinct citizen-science and land-manager projects of its Monitoring and Managing Ash (MaMA) program. MaMA is an innovative framework that provides constructive steps that can be taken at each stage of EAB invasion (from pre-invasion to severe infestation, when almost all the ash in an area have died). These actions help achieve long-term ash conservation while also producing local EAB mitigation. This program has been developed in close consultation with scientists of the USDA United States Forest Service who have been at the vanguard of efforts to save ash from the threat posed by EAB.
In the MaMA Ash/EAB Surveys project, participants report on the approximate number of large ash trees at a site, whether EAB have infested any trees there, and whether any trees have died from EAB. The data collected enable fine-scale tracking of EAB invasion, helping land managers prepare for and respond to it. Importantly, it helps identify potential sites for monitoring of EAB-induced ash mortality; such monitoring facilitates detection of potentially EAB-resistant lingering ash used to develop EAB-resistant lines, which offer the best hope for ash restoration. This project thus provides a foundation for MaMA’s other two citizen science projects, the MaMA Monitoring Plot Network, and the MaMA Lingering Ash Search. However, each project is separate, so you can do this project without doing either of the other projects, and you can do the other projects without doing this one.
You don’t need to be an expert on identifying particular species of ash to participate in this project. This project relies upon broad citizen-science participation, and we do not want to discourage potential volunteers – especially since, for the conservation purposes of this project, species-level identification is not necessary. You’ll only need to be able to distinguish ash from other trees, as shown in our section on How to Recognize Ash.
Project purposes:
This project has three purposes: 1) using citizen scientists to enable real-time, publicly available, regional mapping of the spread and severity of EAB invasion; 2) helping identify sites that can be used for the MaMA Monitoring Plot Network project, with these plots essential to the search for lingering ash; and 3) prompting land managers and citizen scientists to familiarize themselves with their local ash stands and the ways to identify EAB infestation.
Project training:
You can participate in MaMA Ash/EAB Surveys without formal training; however, before collecting and submitting data for the project, you should: 1) Make sure that you can distinguish ash from other trees; and 2) recognize the definitive signs of EAB damage. Additionally, you’re strongly encouraged to watch the recorded training webinar “How to Recognize Ash and EAB Signs and Participate in the MaMA Ash/EAB Surveys Citizen-Science Project”, available from this website.
When to do this project:
You can use this project to report presence or absence of EAB signs any time of year. However, if you examine ash trees during June-September, you can answer the survey’s additional question on whether any of the site’s ash trees have been killed by EAB (at other times of year, it can be difficult to distinguish dead trees from those that have seasonally lost their leaves).
How to choose a site:
This project can be done at any site at which you find one or more ash trees (see How to Recognize Ash). You can survey multiple sites, submitting reports for each site separately. For this project (MaMAs Ash/EAB Surveys), each site can be as small or as big as you want, and can even include small trees and planted cultivars. For all MaMA citizen-science projects, however, make sure to exclude any individual ash trees that you know to have been chemically treated against EAB.
For all the MaMA citizen-science projects, we especially encourage you to include sites that include black ash trees, so although you are not required to be able to distinguish between ash species, in this case it would be helpful. This is because they are largely locally distributed, are particularly ecologically and culturally important, and data from them are largely lacking. As you’ll see in our section on How to Recognize Ash, black ash are restricted to swamp habitats and have patchier distributions than the more widespread green ash and white ash.
How often data need to be reported for this project:
For this project, it’s fine if you just report data once from each site that you survey. However, it would be extremely helpful if you try to survey sites once per year until you find definitive evidence of EAB there, and ideally until at least one tree with definitive EAB signs dies there. In all cases, if you do a survey, and don’t find evidence of EAB, don’t let this deter you from reporting your data – absence data is just as important as presence data. Also, if, after you’ve submitted for a site, you notice that the status of your site has changed – e.g., EAB is first detected or the first tree dies from it – you can submit the relevant new data any time (you don’t have to wait a year).
To do this project, you’ll need to be able to:
1) Distinguish ash from other trees. See How to Recognize Ash (with the ability to distinguish black ash from other species helpful, but not required) – this is not difficult once you know the field marks;
2) Recognize the definitive signs of EAB infestation – also easy to learn; and
3) Distinguish dead ash from live ash using the project’s definitions of “live” and “dead”.
To do this project, you’ll need the following materials/equipment/software:
Smartphone or tablet (or a computer plus a GPS unit plus printed data forms)
Anecdata. If you’ll be using a smartphone to report data, download the Anecdata app before you head to the field. If you’ll be using a computer to report data, go to Anecdata.org. In either case, set up your Anecdata account, and search in “Projects” for MaMA Ash/EAB Surveys and then follow the prompts to join this project (it’s free and there are no obligations). Although it’s quickest and easiest to record and report your data using the electronic data sheet accessed directly through the Anecdata app on your smartphone or tablet, you can print a hard copy of the data sheet available here, which can be helpful if you don’t have internet access in the field or if you’re more comfortable doing things this way.
Internet access for smartphone (if reporting data while in field) or computer.
You’ll only be able to use Anecdata to report data from at your field site if you have internet access there. If you won’t have internet access in the field, you’ll need to first print the project’s data forms, and bring them into the field along with a pencil to record data.
You should also consider using the following additional materials:
Printed data forms and pencil will allow you to record data in the field in case you don’t have internet access there; they also provide crucial backup in case your smartphone dies.
Binoculars can help to both recognize ash (especially on trees having only high leaves) and make it easier to see EAB signs.
Tick protection. Disease-carrying ticks are extremely likely to be encountered if you go off-trail, especially in areas of dense brush. Permethrin-treated clothing seems to be particularly effective at decreasing the likelihood of tick bites; however, we urge you to also take additional measures, such as doing tick checks.
Hardhat. This may provide some protection from falling branches, but will not protect you from a direct hit by a trunk or limb (see Hazard Warning/Assumption of Risk).
Instructions and tips:
As you go through the smartphone or computer screens for this project, some step-by-step directions are self-explanatory. However, before heading out to the field, make sure to read the additional instructions provided here, because following them is necessary for collecting reliable, usable data:
Documenting ash presence: For this step, it is only necessary to document that there are ash trees (of any species) present at your site, although you can also identify trees more precisely. If you’re simply identifying all the ash trees as “ash” (or “Fraxinus”), you’ll just need to upload a photo of one of these trees, but if you identify various trees differently (e.g., “white ash”, “black ash”), you’ll need to provide one photo for each species. See How to Recognize Ash.
Documenting definitive EAB evidence: You’ll need to provide a total of one photo for each different form of definitive EAB evidence you observe – e.g., if you see 10 trees with serpentine galleries and 1 tree with D-shaped exit holes, you’d need to only upload 2 photos total of these signs: 1 of the serpentine galleries and one of the D-shaped exit holes (so we can ensure that you’re properly identifying the signs you’re relying upon). See Definitive Signs of EAB Infestation.
Determining whether EAB has killed any ash at your site. To answer this affirmatively, you only need to find at least one dead ash tree (i.e., with dead crown, although it can have live root sprouts from the very base of the tree) that also has definitive evidence of EAB infestation – if it has this, it’s presumed the tree was killed by EAB.
Estimating how many ash trees of at least 4” DBH are at the site: 4” DBH trees have 4-inch trunk diameter measured 4½ feet off the ground; this corresponds to a 12½” circumference at this height. For this project, you only need to estimate whether trees are at least this big. Because it only matters whether or not there are at least 40 such trees at your site (as reflected in the possible answer fields provided by for this project), you do not need to count the trees precisely; rather, just estimate whether there are at least 40 of them. Even though you don’t need to count these trees precisely, it can still be helpful to use chalk to mark each trunk you visit so that you can see it from a distance and not count it more than once.
If there are at least 40 ash trees of at least 4” DBH at your site, we encourage you to consider participating in MaMA Monitoring Plots Network citizen-science project. To join that project, you’ll need to make sure that the trees at the site satisfy that project’s other criteria, and you’ll also generally need to attend an ERI MaMA training workshop because that project is highly rigorous and more technical.