NEWS RELEASE l Ohio Department of Agriculture
Governor Bob Taft Lieutenant Governor Jennette B. Bradley Director Fred L. Dailey		Communications Office 8995 East Main Street • Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068 Phone: 614-752-9817 • Fax 614-466-7754 ODA URL: www.ohioagriculture.gov • e-mail: agri@agri.ohio.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 2, 2004

Media contact: Melissa Brewer, EAB Communications, 614-728-6404

Emerald Ash Borer Open House Scheduled for Oregon

REYNOLDSBURG - The Ohio Department of Agriculture will target areas in and around Oregon in Lucas and Wood counties for Emerald Ash Borer eradication designed to eliminate this destructive insect. To help educate local residents about the program, ODA will host an open house where residents can talk with the department's plant pest officials and view displays about Emerald Ash Borer and maps of the local eradication zone.

  

Who:	Local residents and business owners in the Oregon area and ODA plant pest officials
What:	Emerald Ash Borer Open House
When:	Thursday, Dec. 9, 6-8 p.m
Where:	Firehouse #2, 1102 South Wheeling Road
Why:	To educate residents about eradication and provide a forum for individual questions
How:	Open house-style meeting. Citizens may come and go any time during open house hours.

The Emerald Ash Borer was first discovered in Ohio in 2003 in Lucas County and to date has been found in Defiance, Franklin, Fulton, Henry, Lucas, and Wood counties. In November, department officials discovered two infested trees in Oregon on Pickle Road, just east of State Route 51 and the Toledo city limits. The initial discovery was found on a trap tree. Since that time, Emerald Ash Borer surveyors have discovered five additional infestations northeast and south of Pickle Road, including one on Wales Road in Wood County.

Marked trees within ½-mile radius of the six infestations will soon be cut down, depending on U.S. Department of Agriculture funding. All ash trees within the ½-mile radius, regardless of whether they are visibly infested, will be destroyed in order to stop the spread of the insect. The eradication program will be conducted under the department's authority in Ohio Revised Code Section 927.70 to control, eradicate, and prevent the spread of invasive species and prevent massive economic losses to Ohio's homeowners and nursery, timber, and tourism industries.

For more information about the open house, call the Emerald Ash Borer hotline at 1-888-OHIO-EAB, or go the department's Web site, www.ohioagriculture.gov/eab , for pest and identification information or a map of Oregon's local eradication zone, located under “Maps.”

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