 The expansion became necessary after the tree-killing beetle was
detected this summer in four new counties. Traps placed throughout
the state to track the spread of the beetle captured its presence in
DeWitt, Marion and Stark counties. Alert IDOA staff spotted the
fourth infestation, in Effingham County, while traveling to Marion
County to investigate the discovery there.
"This is the eighth and largest amendment to the original EAB
quarantine that was enacted after the beetle was discovered here in
2006," said Warren Goetsch, IDOA bureau chief of environmental
programs. "The boundary expansion is so significant because two of
the detections this summer were in southern Illinois, nearly 125
miles from the closest previously known infestations."
In addition to DeWitt, Marion, Stark and Effingham, the counties
added to the quarantine in their entirety are Clark, Coles,
Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Fayette, Macon, Moultrie, Piatt and
Shelby. Portions of Bureau and Marshall counties not previously
included in the quarantine also were added, bringing the number of
affected counties in northern, central and south-central Illinois to
39.
The quarantine is intended to prevent
the artificial spread of the beetle through the movement of infested
wood and nursery stock. Specifically, it prohibits the removal of
the following items from quarantined areas:
-
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 1 inch from ash trees.
-
Ash logs and
lumber with either the bark or the outer 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 IDOA to present a risk of spreading
the beetle infestation.
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The emerald ash borer is a small, metallic-green beetle native to
Asia. It does not pose any direct risk to public health but does
threaten the ash tree population. Its larvae burrow into the bark of
ash trees, causing the trees to starve and eventually die. Since the
beetle was first confirmed in the Midwest in the summer of 2002, it
has killed more than 25 million ash trees.
The beetle often is difficult to detect, especially in newly
infested trees. Signs of infestation include the presence of
metallic-green beetles about half the diameter of a penny on or
around ash trees, 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 IDOA.
The presence of the emerald ash borer was first confirmed in
Illinois in Kane County. How it arrived in the state is unknown, but
the IDOA suspects it was transported here in contaminated firewood.
To prevent future such occurrences, the department encourages
Illinoisans to purchase only locally grown nursery stock and locally
cut firewood.
The full quarantine order and detailed information about the
program can be accessed on the Internet at
http://www.illinoiseab.com/.
Other counties under quarantine are Boone, Champaign, Cook,
DeKalb, DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall,
Lake, LaSalle, Lee, Livingston, McHenry, McLean, Ogle, Putnam,
Vermilion, Will, Winnebago and Woodford.
[Text from
news
release from
the Illinois Department of
Agriculture]
 |
