Emerald ash borer or woodpecker? I never saw a woodpecker strip bark like this. I've noticed a few ash just like this and it goes the whole length of the tree .

I thought maybe a woodpecker going after the borer, what's your thoughts ?

Definitely ash borer, at least it started there.

Looks to me like the tree is dieing

Couple kids out squirrel hunting.

Emerald ashborer. Pics all over the internet look just like that. Ash trees here in Pennsylvania took a beating from it. Look up firewood on FB Marketplace and most is ash.

You're seeing damage from both emerald ash borers and woodpeckers hunting the borers to eat. I lost around 350 large, white ash trees on my farm to borers. I had 6 large ash trees survive for years, though I lost one of those this Summer. When the trees were dying, they put out huge amounts of seeds. I had several thousand small ash trees grow up from seeds and many come back from the bases. The larger ones of those died last year and this year. I still have many hundreds of small ash trees, that will probably mostly die too, once they are large enough for the borers to predate on.

I'm hoping my 5 remaining large ash trees throw some seedlings that are also resistant to the borer. I should cut most of the ash trees, that aren't near the survivors, down for poles and to prevent them harboring the borers.

Keith