Our millions of unpaid employees.

I’d like to introduce you to the Emerald Ash Borer!

Named after it’s beautiful, vibrant green color and what it does for a living, this small insect has become well-known around our shop despite being found only in the Eastern I never would’ve thought that keeping with ecology would become a part of my job, but we’ve recently begun to receive material from a distributor that led me to spend some time learning about this little guy.

This invasive species has killed at least tens of millions of ash trees so far and threatens to kill most of the 8.7 billion ash trees throughout North America. The emerald ash borer has a nasty habit of killing young trees several years before reaching their seeding age of 10 years.

I discovered that government agencies in both the USA and Canada have utilized a native species of wasp, Cerceris fumipennis, as a means of detecting areas to which the Emerald beetle has spread. The female wasp will hunt the Emerald beetle and carry it back to the nest. Volunteers follow the female and thereby discover which forests have an infestation of beetles. Fascinating, right? They’re like tiny, winged hunting dogs.

The natural range of the emerald ash borer is eastern Russia, northern China, Japan, and Korea. Not the United States. It seems as though they hitchhiked a ride during the 1990’s at some point on shipping crates and decided to stay.

Our company brand includes using 100% sustainable material. Our white ash used to arrive from our licensed distributor who sourced only from mills that replaced every tree cut down. Those same mills were recently contracted to remove dead trees that had been invaded by the emerald beetle.

While we’re glad the beetles and their voracious destructive appetites have been mostly contained, our shop crew and customers have seen how the work of a small winged creature can further enhance the character and beauty of our furniture. And they’re not even on our payroll.