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Ash Borer Spreads West09-12-07 | News

Ash Borer Spreads West

?EUR??,,????'??It takes two years for the insect to show itself,?EUR??,,????'?? said John Richards, an arborist with Tree Care Enterprises, who is helping the Rockford Park District handle the ash borer problem. ?EUR??,,????'??So it had to have been in Peru and those other areas two years, and chances are pretty good it was transported elsewhere without anyone knowing it.?EUR??,,????'??

The emerald ash borer ?EUR??,,????'??+ responsible for the death of up to 25 million ash trees from Illinois to Pennsylvania ?EUR??,,????'??+ is crawling closer to Rockford, Ill. This has prompted the Illinois Department of Agriculture to expand its emerald ash borer quarantine on movement of ash wood products to all or part of 18 additional counties.

Scientists are working on preventions or kills for the ash borer but, so far, they haven?EUR??,,????'???t come up with an answer. The beetle was first found in Michigan in 2002, and has spread to ash trees in Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and, this year, Pennsylvania. Most of the 25 million ash trees killed so far were in southeastern Michigan.

Arborists say they have learned from Michigan?EUR??,,????'???s experience and should be able to cut the losses through early detection and action. But the loss still will be heavy.

Six percent to 8 percent of northern Illinois?EUR??,,????'??? trees are ash. About 14,000 are along Rockford city streets. If the ash borer hits, the great majority will be lost because treatment is costly, has to be repeated annually and doesn?EUR??,,????'???t always work.

Workers are inspecting one ash tree in every four square miles. That means they will cut down about 130 ash trees in Winnebago County public lands and check them for the ash borer. In Boone County, about 75 ash trees will be taken down.

Source: Rockford Register Star