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 “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.
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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.
[Jeff Squibb, Illinois Department of
Agriculture]
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