Last Illinois Asian Longhorned Beetle Quarantine Area Deregulated

WASHINGTON, July 19, 2006--The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced that it is deregulating the Oz Park quarantine area in Cook County, leaving Illinois free of active Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) quarantine zones.

Through intensive inspections, APHIS has determined that ALB no longer presents a risk of spread from the 9-square mile quarantine zone. This action is consistent with ALB eradication protocols, as there have been no additional ALB finds in the Oz Park area or any other areas of Illinois since November 2003.

With the final Cook County quarantine zone deregulated, firewood, lumber, nursery stock and other materials that serve as hosts for the invasive beetle now can be moved freely through the region.

Trees within the Oz Park, Cook County quarantine will be inspected annually by the ALB cooperative eradication program. In order to declare an infested area eradicated, it must be free of any signs of ALB for four years.

Since ALB was discovered in Chicago's Ravenswood area in 1998, the pest has been responsible for the destruction of more than 1,551 infested trees in Illinois. ALB was initially discovered in New York in 1996, and since then, several infestations have also been uncovered in New Jersey counties in 2002 and 2004.

APHIS and its cooperators work to eradicated ALB by removing infested trees and adjacent high risk trees, imposing quarantines, conducting intensified visual inspections around confirmed sites to determine the reach and scope of an infestation, and by chemically treating trees as part of an area-wide integrated pest eradication strategy. The goal is to eliminate this destructive insect from Illinois, New York and New Jersey before it can establish itself elsewhere.

The ALB cooperative eradication program relies on public support and assistance in eliminating ALB from the United States. The public can continue to assist by looking for and reporting any sightings of ALB, which is about 1 to 1.5 inches long, has a shiny jet black body with distinctive white spots and long antennae that are banded in black and white. To report an ALB sighting in Illinois, please call (312) 742-3385.

While APHIS is making strides toward eradication of the ALB, a new menace to Illinois’ trees has been discovered in the form of the emerald ash borer (EAB). This is also an invasive wood boring beetle native to China and eastern Asia; however the EAB targets only ash trees in North America. First detected in July 2002 in southeastern Michigan, the EAB has since been found in Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, Virginia and, most recently, in Kane County Illinois and the Chicago suburb of Wilmette in Cook County. While the ALB quarantine in Chicago has been lifted, active quarantines remain for the EAB in states working to contain and eradicate that species. More than 21,636 square miles are currently under active quarantines due to the presence of the EAB.

USDA's APHIS, Forest Service and Agricultural Research Service, the City of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation's Bureau of Forestry, the Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources participate in the ALB cooperative eradication program. For more information, visit the APHIS Web site, www.aphis.usda.gov/alb.

USDA APHIS