Illinois Department of Agriculture Confirms 14 new counties infested with Emerald Ash Borer
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Emerald Ash
Borer (EAB), an invasive pest responsible for killing millions of ash trees in
North America, has been confirmed in 14 new counties, including five that are
located outside the current state quarantine zone intended to prevent the
spread of the beetle.
“The quarantine boundaries obviously will have to be amended
to include the new detections in Logan, Menard, Perry, Sangamon and Williamson
counties, as well as two other counties
outside the quarantine, Peoria and Tazewell, where EAB was detected for the
first time earlier this year,” Warren Goetsch, Illinois Department of
Agriculture Bureau Chief of Environmental Programs, said. “We will do that after all of our findings
are in, which should be by November.”
The new discoveries were made by Illinois Department of
Agriculture employees as they retrieved and analyzed the many purple traps the
department placed across the state to detect the presence of the tiny beetle,
which is known for its distinctive, metallic green, wing color.
·
In Logan County,
the ash borer was found on North St. in Atlanta.
·
In Menard, it was
discovered at Deerpath Lane and Oakland Ave. in Petersburg.
·
The Perry County
find was made on Reed Rd. in Du Quoin.
·
In Sangamon
County, the trap was located in an ash tree on Reynolds St. near Douglas Park.
·
And, in
Williamson County, it was detected on McDonald St. in Marion.
The EAB traps also led to new
confirmations in eight counties within the quarantine. Those counties are Coles, Douglas, Ford,
Marshall, Piatt, Shelby, Warren and Woodford.
An additional detection was made in Edgar County by an Eastern Illinois
University professor and later confirmed through samples collected by IDOA
staff.
Newly-infested counties are encouraged to begin putting the quarantine restrictions into practice.
“Residents, businesses and municipalities
should familiarize themselves with the regulations in anticipation of being
included in the quarantine,” EAB program manager Scott Schirmer said. “I would recommend they study management
options as well to help establish plans and budgets for addressing their infestations.”
The emerald ash borer is
native to Asia. Its larvae burrow into
the bark of ash trees, causing the trees to starve and eventually die. Since the first detection of the pest near
Detroit, Mich., in 2002, it has killed more than 250 million ash trees.
The tiny beetle often is difficult to detect, especially in
newly-infested trees. Signs of infestation include thinning and
yellowing leaves, D-shaped holes in the bark of the trunk or branches and basal
shoots. Anyone who suspects an
ash tree has been infested should contact their county Extension office, their
village forester or the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
The state quarantine currently
includes 49 Illinois counties and is intended to prevent the artificial or
“human-assisted” spread of the beetle through the movement of
potentially-infested wood and nursery stock.
Specifically, it prohibits the removal of the following items:
·
The
emerald ash borer in any living stage of development.
·
Ash
trees of any size.
·
Ash
limbs and branches.
·
Any cut,
non-coniferous firewood.
·
Bark
from ash trees and wood chips larger than one inch from ash trees.
·
Ash logs
and lumber with either the bark or the outer one-inch of sapwood, or both,
attached.
·
Any item
made from or containing the wood of the ash tree that is capable of spreading
the emerald ash borer.
·
Any
other article, product or means of conveyance determined by the Illinois
Department of Agriculture to present a risk of spreading the beetle
infestation.
The counties currently under
quarantine are Boone, Bureau, Champaign, Carroll, Clark, Coles, Cook,
Cumberland, DeKalb, DeWitt, Douglas, DuPage, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford,
Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Iroquois, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Knox, Lake,
LaSalle, Lee, Livingston, Macon, Marion, Marshall, McHenry, McLean, Mercer, Moultrie,
Ogle, Piatt, Putnam, Rock Island, Shelby, Stark, Stephenson, Vermilion, Warren,
Whiteside, Will, Winnebago and Woodford.
For further information about the
beetle, visit www.IllinoisEAB.com on the internet.
0 comments:
Post a Comment