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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Michiganders Needed To Report Ash Borer Survivors

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Thursday, October 30, 2014   

DETROIT - It's a scavenger hunt of sorts: the U.S. Forest Service is hoping Michiganders can help them find the few ash trees which have managed to survive the invasion of a deadly Asian beetle in the hopes of one day reviving the state's ash population.

Research biologist Jennifer Koch, with the Northern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service, says while more than 50 million ash trees in the upper Midwest have been killed since the emerald ash borer arrived in the U.S. about a dozen years ago, they've recently spotted a few survivors.

"We think they have a level of tolerance to emerald ash borer," Koch says. "They're not completely resistant, they still get infested, but they're definitely able to live longer in areas where all the other ash are getting killed very rapidly. "

The Forest Service has a new online reporting tool on its website where gardeners, hikers, and other wildlife enthusiasts can help identify surviving trees in southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio. Qualifying ash trees must be in natural forested areas, have a healthy canopy, and have not been treated with insecticides.

Koch says the hope is to take small limbs and cuttings from the survivors and grown them into offspring trees in greenhouses where they'll be further tested with ash borer eggs. She says the end result could help bring ash trees back to Michigan.

"Ultimately we want to breed for tolerant or resistant ash trees so we can restore all of the ash resources that we've lost in these areas," she says.

Koch adds, the study will likely expand to other parts of the state soon.


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