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State Lifts Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine, Federal Quarantine Remains Pennsylvania Hardwoods Industry will Benefit from Changes

Emerald Ash Borer beetles have been found in Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County, bringing to seven the number of counties where the ash tree-destroying pest has been identified, Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced today.

Emerald Ash Borer beetles have been identified in Granville, Mifflin County

Officials with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the Department of Natural Resources today announced the first confirmed occurrence of emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive, destructive insect pest of ash trees, in Wisconsin. The discovery was made by forest health specialists investigating a citizen report of dying ash trees in a private woodlot in Ozaukee County, near the Village of Newburg.

State and federal officials in Missouri are working overtime to determine the extent of an emerald ash borer infestation at Wappapello Lake and to develop a strategy for containing the problem. The infestation came to light on July 23, 2008 when U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists discovered seven suspicious beetles on the purple panel sticky traps at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Greenville Recreation Area in Wayne County. Officials with the USDA confirmed the identity of the insects on Friday, July 25, 2008.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the identification of the emerald ash borer (EAB), in Fairfax County, Virginia, on July 9, 2008. This EAB detection is in close proximity to Dulles International Airport. The initial detection was made on July 7, 2008, by an employee from the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDF) who noticed several suspect EAB exit holes. The VDF informed the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) who, in turn, notified APHIS of the suspect EAB find. On July 8, 2008, APHIS and VDACS personnel visited the suspect EAB site in Fairfax, Virginia. One partially emerged adult and two dead adult beetles were recovered and sent to an APHIS Identifier in Michigan, who confirmed their identity as the EAB. In response to this detection, APHIS is working closely with the State of Virginia to carry out delimiting surveys around the initial detection site.

The beetle was detected for the first time in Pennsylvania last summer (2007) and the commonwealth imposed a quarantine for Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, and Lawrence counties to help slow the spread of the beetle. That quarantine will be expanded to include Mercer County.

The emerald ash borer (EAB) was found in Fayette County West Virginia in October 2007. According to state officials in West Virginia, an emerald ash borer larva was discovered in a "trap tree" that had been prepared by the state Department of Agriculture's Plant Industries Division to survey for this wood-boring beetle. Finding the EAB so far south in Fayette County, West Virginia was something of a surprise, and led forestry officials to suspect that this pest arrived in firewood brought in from an infested state by someone camping, fishing, or rafting in the New River Gorge area.