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Pennsylvania’s EAB quarantine now includes the counties of: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Crawford, Cumberland, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniata, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Potter, Snyder, Somerset, Tioga, Union, Venango, Washington, Warren and Westmoreland counties.
The considerable quarantine expansion was based on new detections in PA, coupled with new detections and quarantines in neighboring states and a desire to consolidate the quarantined area, according to Walt Blosser, Plant Inspection Program Specialist at PDA.
Effective August 9, 2010 Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) Secretary Russell Redding signed an order of quarantine expanding the Commonwealth’s EAB Interior Quarantine by adding 31 counties to the 12 counties currently under quarantine. The emerald ash borer beetle is about one half inch in length. PA Dept. of Agriculture EAB quarantine area now covers two-thirds of Pennsylvania.
State and federal Emerald Ash Borer quarantines restrict moving ash nursery stock, green lumber, and any other ash material, including logs, stumps, roots and branches, from the quarantine area. However, due to the difficulty in distinguishing between species of hardwood firewood, all hardwood firewood and wood chips—including ash, oak, maple and hickory—are considered quarantined.
The invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetle was first detected in Pennsylvania in the summer of 2007 in Butler County, and subsequently was found in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Indiana, Juniata, Lawrence, Mercer, Mifflin, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
The wood-boring beetle is native to China and eastern Asia. The pest likely arrived in North America in wooden shipping crates. It was first detected in July 2002 in southeastern Michigan and neighboring Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In addition to Pennsylvania, the beetle is attacking ash trees in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Typically, the Emerald Ash Borer beetles will kill an ash tree within three years of the initial infestation. Adults are dark green, one-half inch in length and one-eighth inch wide, and fly only from early May until September. Larvae spend the rest of the year beneath the bark of ash trees. When they emerge as adults, they leave D-shaped holes in the bark about one-eighth inch wide.
People who suspect they have found Emerald Ash Borer beetles should call the department’s toll-free pest hotline at 1-866-253-7189. For more information about the quarantine, contact Walt Blosser at 717-772-5205, and for more information about Emerald Ash Borer, contact Sven-Erik Spichiger at (717) 772-5229.
Source: Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Sources |
