FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — We rely on trees for so many aspects of our lives — cleaner air to breathe, shade from the sun, and for the beauty all around us. But there’s a major threat that could wipe out millions of Tennessee’s trees.
Bobby Hipshire has been working in the tree service industry since he was a child. “I’ve been doing tree work for, well, since Moby Dick was a minnow,” Hipshire joked.
He’s been warned about the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive beetle, originally from Asia, that has been decimating ash trees for the last two decades. Sadly, the pests have finally made their way to the greater Nashville region. “They’re about an inch long and they do fly, they fly from tree to tree,” said Hipshire. “They eat the Cambium out, which is what supplies water to the tree.”…