So, what's wrong with the MDA's interpretation of the law which allows them to declare the ash tree a host plant nuisance and to have it eradicated?

Updated April 2, 2005

Here's what that part of Act 189, section 18 says. ". . .all species and varieties of trees, shrubs, vines, and other plants not essential to the welfare of the people of the state which may serve as favorable host plants, and promote the prevalence and abundance of insect pests and plant diseases, or any stage thereof, destructively injurious to other plants essential to the welfare of the people of the state, are hereby declared to be a nuisance:"

We certainly wouldn't expect you to be able to understand this run on sentence in your first reading of it. By the time you get to the end of it you forget what the beginning said. Anyway, we must have read it at least 30 times over an 8 week period before it finally dawned on us that legally the ash tree cannot be classified as a host plant nuisance. That's right, it is impossible for the ash tree to be a host plant nuisance by virtue of its definition in that statement. The intent of the law was to protect one plant species which IS ESSENTIAL to Michigan from destruction caused by an insect which lives on a different plant which is NOT ESSENTIAL to Michigan. Now that makes sense, and that is exactly what the law says. If you have a plant species in the state that you really need, and if they are in danger from a plant species that you don't need, then the species that you don't need should be considered a nuisance.

All of the experts agree that the EAB only lives on and completes its life cycle on the ash tree species. All of the experts also agree that the ash tree is the only species which is in danger of being injured by the EAB. How can the ash tree, or any species, be the essential plant being protected and at the same time the non-essential plant that is causing the problem? How can the MDA think it is both ESSENTIAL and NOT ESSENTIAL at the same time? That is impossible. Go back a couple of paragraphs and read what section 18 says. This time the definition of "host plant nuisance" and the intent of the law should be clear. The ash tree cannot lawfully be determined to be a Host Plant Nuisance. The MDA's "Determination" was a misinterpretation of the letter of the law as well as the intent.