ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE EXPANDS EMERALD ASH BORER QUARANTINE

From the Illinois Department of Agriculture

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Agriculture has expanded its emerald ash borer quarantine to include all of Kane County.
Detections of the tree-killing beetle outside the boundaries of the original quarantine prompted the expansion. The detections occurred in Hampshire, Elgin, Plato and Blackberry Townships and resulted from tree surveys to determine the extent of the Kane County beetle infestation.
“The surveys, which involved the inspection of ash trees throughout the county, were a collaborative effort of local, state and federal partners,” Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke said. “While we were hoping the results would show the infestation was contained to the area where it was first discovered, the exhaustive work of survey participants will help us to develop a strategy to manage this destructive pest.”
The quarantine was established after the emerald ash borer was discovered in Campton Township last June and originally encompassed 51 square miles, a territory that included the rural subdivision west of St. Charles where the beetle was first found in Illinois.

It prohibits the removal of the following items from the county:
· 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.

Anyone convicted of moving prohibited items from the quarantine area without prior certification by an Illinois Department of Agriculture nursery inspector may be fined up to $500.
Forty-one trees in Kane County are confirmed to be infested with the beetle, including 31 in Campton Township. Seven of the 41 were identified through a survey method known as bark peeling. After a tree is removed, inspectors using this technique strip the bark from its trunk or branches and examine the bare wood for beetle larvae. Three infestations were detected using trap trees, a survey method where a ring of bark is removed from a tree to distress it, which makes the tree more attractive to the ash borer beetle. The rest were identified through visual inspections.
In addition to Kane County, the beetle, which has killed more than 20 million Ash trees in North America, also has been found in the Cook County communities of Wilmette, Evanston and Winnetka.
“Tree surveys are underway to determine the extent of the infestation in Cook County,” Warren Goetsch, bureau chief of Environmental Programs said. “Significant progress has been made, but because the beetle was discovered there in July, a month after the detection in Kane County, the work will take longer to complete.”

A beetle quarantine also is in effect in northern Cook County. Its boundaries extend north to south from the Lake County line to the northernmost city limit of Chicago and east to west from Lake Michigan to Interstate 294.
The Kane and Cook county quarantines regulate the intrastate movement of potentially contaminated wood products. The states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan have been placed under a federal quarantine. It prohibits the interstate movement of these same products.
How the emerald ash borer arrived in Illinois is unknown, but the department suspects it may have been transported here in contaminated firewood. To avoid the accidental introduction of the beetle to new areas, the department encourages Illinoisans to purchase only locally-grown nursery stock and locally-cut firewood.
Anyone who suspects a tree has been infested is urged to contact their county Extension office or their village forester for a consultation.