PULP: A dead green ash tree at the corner of 44th Street and Foxhall Road goes to the grinder on Tuesday morning. A supervisory urban forester at the D.C. transportation department said the tree, like millions of others in the country, had been attacked by the emerald ash borer. Larvae, hatched from eggs laid on the bark, bore into the tree and feed on tree tissues. The forester, Munevver Ertem, stated in an email that D.C. has a “small number of street and park ash trees,” with most of the city’s ash on private or National Park Service lands. The city now has a sawmill, but the condition of the ash was not suitable to be turned into products, according to Ertem. The sawmill is located with a nonprofit organization farm in Virginia, pending selection of a site in the city. “We need a large secure place to store the logs, the saw, wood products, drying spaces, etc.,” Ertem stated. Most of the wood products are used by D.C. public schools, in woodwork shops or in school garden projects, along with parks and recreation centers, according to Ertem. Loss of the trees has affected toolmakers, such as J.D. Napier in Harlan County, Ky., who makes hoes that have ash handles. The NPS offers an ash tree update. Photos Credit: John A. Bray