Emerald Ash Borer Discovered in DuPage County

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – DuPage is the fourth county in Illinois with a confirmed infestation of emerald ash borer (EAB). The Illinois Department of Agriculture today announced the tiny, tree-killing beetle has been discovered at a shopping center in Glendale Heights.

A department nursery inspector made the discovery. While returning from an inspection, he noticed distressed ash trees at the Concord Green Shopping Center and stopped to investigate. Larvae were collected from trees near the intersection of North Avenue and Bloomingdale Road and submitted to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which confirmed the specimens as EAB larvae late Friday.

"Just like in LaSalle County, where an infestation was confirmed last Wednesday, our staff now will survey ash trees in the surrounding area to determine the size of the infestation," Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke said. "That information will be helpful as we consider adjustments to the quarantine we established to slow the spread of this destructive pest."

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 20 million ash trees.

The first beetle detection in Illinois occurred last June in a rural Kane County subdivision west of St. Charles. Subsequent finds were made in the northern Cook County communities of Wilmette, Evanston, Winnetka and Skokie and, most recently, in LaSalle County just north of Peru.

Areas currently under quarantine include all of Kane County and parts of northern Cook, western DuPage, northern Kendall and eastern DeKalb counties. The quarantine prohibits the intrastate movement of potentially-contaminated wood products, including ash trees, limbs and branches and all types of firewood. In addition, the entire states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan have been placed under a federal quarantine. It prohibits the interstate movement of these same products.

The emerald ash borer is difficult to detect, especially in newly-infested trees. Citizens should watch for metallic-green beetles about half the diameter of a penny on or near ash trees that are showing signs of disease or stress. Other signs of infestation in ash trees include D-shaped holes in the bark of the trunk or branches and shoots growing from its base. Anyone who suspects a tree has been infested is urged to contact either their county Extension office or village forester. For more information, visit www.IllinoisEAB.com on the internet.