Ash trees in Fort Worth and emerald ash borer

If you have an ash in Fort Worth, decide now whether you want to keep it. Emerald ash borer is confirmed in Tarrant County, Texas A&M Forest Service said in 2018 "There is no known stop to this epidemic", and a tree that is not treated while it can still be saved leaves you only the removal to think about.

How close it is

The Forest Service announced on December 7, 2018 that the beetle had infested and killed ash in the Eagle Mountain Lake area, after a single specimen the year before and then larvae confirmed by DNA tests. Traps placed around that lake later caught 137 adults on one trap. As of June 2026, the agency's county list has 40 confirmed Texas counties, with Tarrant among them. The Texas Department of Agriculture lists Tarrant as quarantined under Title 4, Chapter 19, Subchapter Z of the state rules.

The same 2018 release put ash at about 5 percent of the Dallas/Fort Worth urban forest, going by canopy inventories. That is a metro-wide average. The city's guide below shows which parts of Fort Worth to look in.

Where ash shows up in Fort Worth

The city's tree guide is undated, but it says where to look:

Is it an ash, and is it infested?

The Forest Service says ash has opposite branching and opposite compound leaves, and mature bark in a fishnet or diamond pattern. Warning signs are dead branches near the top, leafy shoots sprouting from the trunk, bark splits showing S-shaped tunnels, a lot of woodpecker work, and D-shaped exit holes about an eighth of an inch wide. Early on there may be nothing to see. Report a suspected case on the hotline at 1-866-322-4512 (theirs, not ours).

How long you have

The sources give different answers, and it is worth knowing that. The 2018 release says infested trees die within two to five years. A 2022 release says two to three. The agency's current page says that where the beetle is well established, an infested ash can die within a year. Plan around the short end.

Treat or remove

The Forest Service page suggests saving trees that give important shade or have memorial value. Treatments are soil injections or drenches, trunk injections or trunk sprays, and it recommends systemic insecticides with emamectin benzoate where the beetle is present. A treatment can protect a tree for two to three years, so this is a repeat job, not a one-time fix. Ask for the plan and the schedule in writing when you get a quote.

If the tree is in poor condition or already infested, or is not worth saving, the same page says removal can slow the spread. It recommends a trained professional with experience removing infested ash, who is "insured and bonded". Those are the agency's words. We do not check any company, so that part is yours to ask about. The questions page has more.

The city's rules on ash

The ordinance puts ash on its unprotected list. The city's permit line still says dying and hazardous trees need a tree removal permit, and the application has a reason for a tree "Infested with insects or disease and threatens health of other trees". So ask Urban Forestry at 817-392-2222 before it comes down. The permit page says what else we found.

A parkway ash goes through Forestry. Its removal form, revised in August 2020, lists ash among trees banned from parkways and medians that may be permitted for removal without replacement. Do not plant another one there.

Where the wood goes

This is where an ash job differs from any other. The Forest Service says not to move firewood, and to burn, bury or chip dead or infested ash where the tree stands, because infested wood can keep the beetle alive for up to two years after cutting. A quarantine works by "restricting movement of any woody ash material leaving the quarantined area". The state's page calls firewood and wood products with ash bark the main way it spreads long distances, and points to a separate document for what is allowed. It lists a toll free line, 800-835-5832.

So ask any company where the wood is going, and whether it will be chipped on site. Before you burn anything in the city, ask the city. The collection pages we read say nothing specific about ash, so ask 817-392-1234 before you stack an infested tree at the curb. Giving ash logs to a friend out of the area is exactly what the quarantine is there to stop.

Replanting

The 2018 release says communities can build resilience by planting a wider mix of species, and the Forest Service page points to the Texas Tree Planting Guide. The city's own list of protected species is on the permit page.