021

Title:

Optimizing Search and Control of EAB in Urban Environments

Discipline: Operations Research - Optimization

Presenter:

Sabah Bushaj

Abstract:

Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a wood-boring insect native to Asia, was discovered near Detroit in 2002, has spread, and killed millions of ash trees throughout the eastern United States and Canada. EAB causes severe damage in urban areas where it kills high-value ash trees that shade streets, homes, and parks and costs homeowners and local governments millions of dollars for treatment, removal, and replacement of infested trees. We present a multi-stage, stochastic, mixed-integer programming model to help decision-makers maximize the public benefits of preserving healthy ash trees in an urban environment. The model allocated resources to surveillance of the ash population and subsequent treatment and removal of infested trees over time. We explore the multi-stage dynamics of an EAB outbreak with a dispersal mechanism and apply the optimization model to explore surveillance, treatment, and removal options to manage an EAB outbreak in Winnipeg, a city of Manitoba, Canada.

Author(s):

Sabah Bushaj, Esra Buyuktahtakin-Toy, Denys Yemshanov, Robert Haight

Funding Acknowledgements:

U.S. Forest Service under Grant # 16-JV-11242309-109; National Science Foundation CAREER Award under Grant # CBET-1554018; USDA AFRI Award under Grant # 2016-67013-24930