Henry and Knox Counties Added to EAB Quarantine in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Agriculture has added two, new counties to its existing 39-county emerald ash borer (EAB) quarantine.

The boundary expansion became necessary this fall after infestations of the tree-killing beetle were confirmed for the first time in Henry and Knox counties. The pest was discovered in Henry County at a park on the northwest side of Kewanee through the department’s EAB trapping program and in Knox County by alert grounds staff at Knox College in Galesburg.

The quarantine, which now covers 40 percent of the entire state, is intended to prevent the artificial or “human-assisted” spread of the beetle through the movement of infested wood and nursery stock. Specifically, it prohibits the movement of the following items from quarantined areas: ...more

USDA Updates Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine Policy

Federal Order Focuses on Perimeter Areas

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2012-- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today issued a Federal Order updating its Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) quarantine policy. The Federal Order allows unrestricted interstate movement of regulated articles within contiguous federal quarantine boundaries, with the exception of movements to protected areas within the existing quarantine area. The change will become effective on July 1, 2012.

The protected areas include any area identified by a state as pest free for which the state has regulations to protect against the human assisted intrastate spread of EAB.

APHIS’s EAB program seeks to manage the invasive EAB using the best science and tools available, with emphasis on activities that are most effective in stopping/slowing the spread of EAB to new areas. APHIS is now modifying its policy to focus its regulatory efforts on the perimeter of quarantined areas. This will allow for the best use of available resources and reduce the complexity of the requirements for affected stakeholders.

The policy change will allow EAB regulated articles to move freely within contiguous quarantined areas, except interstate movement into the protected areas. Movements of regulated materials from quarantined areas to protected areas must be done with a properly issued federal certificate or limited permit. Requirements for movement of regulated materials out of the federal quarantined area, regardless of destination, will remain unchanged.

Companies and individuals should also check for and follow any relevant state EAB quarantine regulations.
Regulated EAB material includes all ash wood with the bark and sapwood remaining, ash nursery stock, and all hardwood firewood.

EAB is an invasive wood-boring beetle, native to China and eastern Asia, which targets ash trees. EAB probably arrived in North America hidden in wood packing materials commonly used to ship consumer and other goods. It was first detected in the United States in July 2002 and has since been found in 15 states.
Everyday human activities can facilitate the long distance spread of EAB, and expand the extent and range of the infestation in North America. For this reason, APHIS continues to encourage homeowners, campers, vacationers, and outdoor enthusiasts not to move firewood. The movement of untreated wood products made of ash has been found to advance the spread of EAB. EAB is responsible for the death and decline of tens of millions of ash trees in the United States.

To view an updated EAB quarantine map, click here. For more information on APHIS’s EAB program, please visit www.aphis.usda.gov.

Minnesota Department of Agriculture implements exterior quarantine to protect state’s walnut trees from deadly disease

CONTACT:
Michael Schommer, Communications Director
651.201.6629, Michael.schommer@state.mn.us

Quarantine prevents import of walnut trees and wood from states infested with Thousand Cankers Disease

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson this week moved to protect the state’s 6 million eastern black walnut trees and the state’s walnut timber producers by issuing a temporary exterior quarantine restricting the import of walnut trees and certain related products into Minnesota from areas known to be infested with Thousand Cankers Disease (TCD).

TCD is caused by a fungus carried by a tree pest called the walnut twig beetle.  The beetle attacks the walnut tree, introducing the fungus while it tunnels under the bark.  This results in small cankers, or dead areas, under the bark.  As more beetles attack the tree, these cankers grow together and cut off the tree’s circulation.  This ultimately kills the tree.  To date, TCD has been found in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington, and Utah.  The MDA quarantine restricts movement of products potentially harboring TCD from those states and from other potentially infested areas into Minnesota.

The list of walnut products covered by the quarantine includes live walnut trees, walnut logs, walnut lumber, walnut firewood, walnut nursery stock, wood chips and mulch made from walnut wood, walnut branches and roots, and packaging materials made from walnut wood.  The quarantine does not apply to walnut nuts, nutmeat, walnut hulls, finished products made from walnut wood without bark, or processed lumber that is 100 percent bark-free, and kiln-dried with square edges.

“By taking this action, we will help protect a valuable part of our economy and our environment from needless damage,” Commissioner Frederickson said.  “This targeted quarantine will help prevent the loss of millions of trees and avoid damage to a valuable segment of our state’s forestry industry.”

The black walnut tree is an important tree for Minnesota’s environment and economy.  The tree is a natural part of the southeastern Minnesota landscape, and it is highly valued for its wood.  Every year, Minnesota harvests up to 2 million board feet of black walnut for use in products such as furniture and musical instruments.

MDA has the statutory authority to issue quarantines excluding harmful plant pests.  The TCD quarantine was implemented with input from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service.  MDA will seek public comment prior to replacing this temporary quarantine with a formal quarantine.  That formal quarantine may contain additional or different conditions based on information offered by the public.  More information about TCD and the quarantine can be found on MDA’s website at www.mda.state.mn.us. 

Invasive pest danger closer than you think

Wednesday, December 1, 2010
 
University Park, Pa. -- In Australia, when crossing from one state to another, travelers may encounter a quarantine stop and may be required to forfeit recently purchased fruits and vegetables as a hedge against invasive pests. But in the U.S., crossing state lines is freewheeling, according to researchers from the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, who evaluated the threat of invasive pests to states from within the country.

"We concluded that the immediate threat from known invasive insect pests is greater from within the United States than without," the researchers reported in the current issue of Nature Communications.
"Our findings have significant implications for biosecurity policy and the need to consider security measures beyond established national borders," said Matthew Thomas, professor of entomology, Penn State.

Alien invasive species cost the U.S. economy $120 billion annually. Determining the identity and potential entry paths for these species is important for farmers and policy makers, especially in light of the increases in global trade and transport of agricultural materials internationally.

The researchers, who included Thomas; Dean R. Paini, David C. Cook and Paul J. De Barro of CSIRO Ecosystems Science, Canberra; and Susan P. Worner, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand, looked at a large database comprising details for over 850 pest species across 459 different geographic locations around the globe to determine which insect species are normally found together. Insect pests do not assemble randomly, but come together based on shared ecological and environmental features. For example, two species that feed on citrus crops in sub-tropical environments might often be found together, but they are unlikely to share many features with a pest that attacks sweet corn in temperate environments. This approach of comparing different species assemblages enabled the team to generate lists of the top 100 known insect pests most likely to establish in the U.S. and each of the 48 contiguous states.

The researchers found that, while all the top 100 known exotic insect pests for the entire U.S. already exist in the country, the top lists for each of the states included many species that are yet to establish in those states. In all cases except one, the absent pests do occur somewhere else in the U.S. and more often than not, they are found in a neighboring state. In fact, 12 states had every pest species that they were missing located just across their borders in a neighboring state. The one exception is Florida, which is one of a few states to have a relatively unique pest assemblage, perhaps because of the tropical nature of its environment.

Insect pest assemblages are not necessarily the same across neighboring states. While New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan form a cluster of similar species, so does Minnesota. However, Wisconsin does not, but shares a species assemblage more similar to Maine. The south is a solid block from Texas to Virginia, excluding Florida and including Missouri and Illinois. Farther west the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming share pest profiles with Nevada, but Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are more like Nebraska.

The researchers used a computer approach called artificial neural networking -- a program that links information on branches like biological neurons -- to determine the interconnectivity of the pest assemblages across different sites. They searched an existing database, CABI Crop Protection Compendium, to identify the top 100 potential invasive insect pests for the entire U.S. and individual states. They then determined which species did not yet reside in these top 100 lists.
Thomas and his colleagues found that no relationship existed between the state's size and the number of potential pests still absent in the state. They also found that southern states with their increased biodiversity did not have fewer absent insect pests from their mix of potential pests. They did find significant negative relationships with both the number of incoming domestic air passengers and the gross national product of the state. States with higher gross national products had fewer missing potential insect pests and states with higher domestic air passenger traffic also had fewer absent potential insect pests.

"The fact that exotic species absent from one state were frequently found in a neighboring state implies the ease at which pests could arrive from a neighbor," said Thomas. "Fly into a U.S. airport from overseas and there are many biosecurity measures in place to reduce accidental introduction of a pest, weed or disease. Our analysis suggests the risks might be just as great flying into a domestic terminal or crossing a state boundary by car."

Australia's Cooperative Research Centres Program supported this work.

Contact

• • Andrea Messer
  • http://live.psu.edu

CHAMPAIGN AND VERMILION COUNTIES PART OF STATE EMERALD ASH BORER QUARANTINE

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) has added Champaign and Vermilion Counties to its emerald ash borer (EAB) quarantine. The remaining portions of Ogle and Lee Counties not previously covered in the quarantine were also added. While the beetle does not pose any direct risk to public health, it does threaten the tree population.

The expansion became necessary after the discovery of the destructive beetle near or outside the boundaries of the former quarantine in the cities of Mendota, Rochelle and Rantoul. With the addition of Champaign and Vermilion, all or parts of 25 counties in northern and central Illinois are now under quarantine.

The quarantine is intended to prevent the artificial spread of the beetle through the movement of infested wood and nursery stock. Specifically, it prohibits the removal of the following items from quarantined areas:

• 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 IDOA to present a risk of spreading the beetle infestation.

The emerald ash borer is a small, metallic-green beetle native to Asia. Its larvae burrow into the bark of ash trees, causing the trees to starve and eventually die. Since the emerald ash borer was first confirmed in the Midwest in the summer of 2002, it has killed more than 25 million ash trees.

The beetle often is difficult to detect, especially in newly-infested trees. Signs of infestation include the presence of metallic-green beetles about half the diameter of a penny on or around ash trees, 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 IDOA.

EAB was first confirmed in Illinois in Kane County in 2006. How the emerald ash borer arrived in the state is unknown, but the IDOA suspects it was transported here in contaminated firewood. To prevent future such occurrences, the department encourages Illinoisans to purchase only locally-grown nursery stock and locally-cut firewood.

The full quarantine order and detailed information about the EAB program can be
accessed on the internet at www.IllinoisEAB.com.

Illinois Expands EAB Quarantine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 13, 2010

TWO EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS COUNTIES PART OF STATE EAB QUARANTINE

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) has added Ford and Iroquois counties to its emerald ash borer quarantine.

The expansion became necessary after the discovery of the destructive beetle outside the boundaries of the former quarantine in March. The detection was made in Iroquois County north of Loda at a highway rest area along Interstate 57.

"EAB hasn't been confirmed in Ford County," Warren Goetsch, IDOA bureau chief of Environmental Programs, said. "It was included in the quarantine because it's situated between known infestations in Iroquois County to the east and McLean County to the west."

With the addition of Ford and Iroquois, all or parts of 23 counties in northern and central Illinois now are under quarantine. The quarantine is intended to prevent the artificial spread of the beetle through the movement of 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 emerald ash borer is a small, metallic-green beetle native to Asia. Its larvae burrow into the bark of ash trees, causing the trees to starve and eventually die. While the beetle does not pose any direct risk to public health, it does threaten the tree population. Since the emerald ash borer was first confirmed in the Midwest in the summer of 2002, it has killed more than 25 million ash trees.

The beetle often is difficult to detect, especially in newly-infested trees. Signs of infestation include the presence of metallic-green beetles about half the diameter of a penny on or around ash trees, 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 IDOA.

EAB was first confirmed in Illinois in Kane County in 2006. How the emerald ash borer arrived in the state is unknown, but the IDOA suspects it was transported here in contaminated firewood. To prevent future such occurrences, the department encourages Illinoisans to purchase only locally-grown nursery stock and locally-cut firewood.

The full quarantine order and detailed information about the EAB program can be accessed on the internet at http://www.illinoiseab.com/.

Illinois EAB Newsletter

The latest edition of the Illinois Emerald Ash Borer newsletter has been published. Find out more about the new quarantine boundaries, purple trap survey, and firewood restrictions.

Illinois Expands EAB Quarantine Boundary

Illinois Department of Agriculture Press Release:

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Department of Agriculture has added all or part of four central Illinois counties to its emerald ash borer (EAB) quarantine to prevent the artificial spread of the destructive pest through the movement of infested wood and nursery stock.

The newly-quarantined areas include all of McLean and Woodford counties, eastern Marshall County and the portions of Livingston County not part of prior quarantine orders. The addition of these areas brings the number of impacted counties to 21 and became necessary after the beetle was discovered this summer outside the boundaries of the former quarantine.

"Purple traps set around the state to monitor for EAB detected two previously-unknown infestations in McLean County, one in Bloomington and another in Chenoa," Warren Goetsch, IDOA bureau chief of Environmental Programs, said. "The quarantine essentially was expanded to include these sites, as well as counties to the north situated between the infestations and the previously quarantined area."

The "purple trap" survey, which began last spring, involved placing 4,689 purple sticky traps in a 100-mile wide arc throughout central and northwestern Illinois and various high-risk sites in southern Illinois. The traps were removed in late summer and then analyzed for an adult life-stage of EAB.

Beetles were discovered in seven traps; three were located in LaSalle County, two in McLean and one in both Bureau and Lake. Except McLean, all counties with a positive find were already under quarantine.

The quarantine 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.

Anyone convicted of moving prohibited items from the quarantine area without the approval of an Illinois Department of Agriculture nursery inspector may be fined up to $500.

The emerald ash borer is a small, metallic-green beetle native to Asia. Its larvae burrow into the bark of ash trees, causing the trees to starve and eventually die. While the beetle does not pose any direct risk to public health, it does threaten the tree population. Since the emerald ash borer was first confirmed in the Midwest in the summer of 2002, it has killed tens of millions of ash trees.

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.

The text of the full quarantine order follows:

ILLINOIS EAB QUARANTINE AREA

Effective November 5, 2008



1. The entire Counties of Boone, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Livingston, McHenry, McLean, Putnam, Will, Winnebago, and Woodford;
2. The eastern portion of Ogle County described as follows:
1. bounded on the north by the northern Ogle County line from Meridian Road to the eastern Ogle County line;
2. bounded on the east by the eastern Ogle County line;
3. bounded on the south by the southern Ogle County line from the eastern Ogle County line to Meridian Road; and
4. bounded on the west by Meridian Road or its northern projection from the southern Ogle County line to the northern Ogle County line;
3. The eastern portion of Lee County described as follows:
1. bounded on the north by the northern Lee County line from Meridian Road to the eastern Lee County line;
2. bounded on the east by the eastern Lee County line;
3. bounded on the south by the southern Lee County line from the eastern Lee County line to the southerly projection of Meridian Road; and
4. bounded on the west by Meridian Road or its southerly projection from the northern Lee County line to the southern Lee County line;
4. The eastern portion of Bureau County described as follows:
1. bounded on the north by the northern Bureau County line from Illinois Route 40 to the eastern Bureau County line;
2. bounded on the east by the eastern Bureau County line;
3. bounded on the south by the southern Bureau County line from the eastern Bureau County line to Illinois Route 40; and
4. bounded on the west by Illinois Route 40;
5. The eastern portion of Marshall County described as follows:
1. bounded on the north by the northern Marshall County line from the Illinois River to the eastern Marshall County line;
2. bounded on the east by the eastern Marshall County line;
3. bounded on the south by the southern Marshall County line from the eastern Marshall County line to the Illinois River; and
4. bounded on the west by the Illinois River; and
6. Any other area within the State of Illinois where the presence of the Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) is confirmed in the future.

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.