Introduction

This important conservation project is designed to promote the conservation of ash trees in New York and New England which are under increasing threat from an invasive beetle, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). First detected in 2002 near Detroit, Michigan, this beetle has killed tens of millions of ash trees from the Midwest through Pennsylvania, and is rapidly spreading through New York and New England. NYBG proposes to provide baseline research on ash diversity critical to conservation work, present results to the scientific and conservation communities, and train citizen scientists in New York and New England in ash identification and seed collection.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Sarah K. De Coizart Article TENTH Perpetual Charitable Trust and two anonymous members of the Garden’s Board of Managers for their generous support of the New York Botanical Garden’s Center for Conservation Strategy. We are grateful to Sandra Bruening and Fernanda Cabañas Gac for their assistance in the Cullman Moleclar Lab.