OHIO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2003
Media Contact: Melanie Wilt, ODA Communications, 614-752-9817 

Emerald Ash Borer Discovered in Wood County; Property Quarantined 

REYNOLDSBURG – Ohio Agriculture Director Fred Dailey today announced that Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis), a destructive exotic pest from Asia, has been identified in ash trees in Perrysburg in Wood County. Dailey has issued a quarantine on the property to restrict movement of ash trees, firewood, branches, and logs from the affected properties. 

Though ash firewood is the only firewood named in the quarantine, the state is asking every citizen to refrain from moving unidentified firewood, which could inadvertently contribute to a wider problem. 

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials found the infested ash trees during a routine follow-up inspection of young ash trees shipped from a Michigan nursery within the last two years. The trees were used in landscaping at a commercial property on Route 20 east of I-75 at exit 193. 

Survey workers will look for affected properties in the Perrysburg/Rossford area, as they continue to do in Hicksville in Defiance County where Emerald Ash Borer was identified in August. The first Ohio infestation of Emerald Ash Borer was eradicated from Whitehouse about 10 miles west of Perrysburg in April. It appears the first eradication was successful, though officials will not be sure until next spring when the beetle would have completed an entire life cycle. 

The Emerald Ash Borer belongs to a group of insects known as metallic wood-boring beetles. Adults are dark metallic green in color, 1/2 inch in length and 1/16 inch wide, and present only from mid May until early August.  

Citizens can help by reporting signs of Emerald Ash Borer to the Ohio Department of Agriculture Division of Plant Industry at 800-282-1955. They should also refrain from moving ash trees, lumber, or firewood inside or beyond the quarantined areas in Wood and Defiance counties and alert the department at 800-282-1955 if they receive such items from either county.

More information on detection and identification is available at the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s web site at www.state.oh.us/agr and click on “Emerald Ash Borer.”  

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Note to Editor: See “FACT SHEET: Emerald Ash Borer in Ohio” and get more information on the Emerald Ash Borer, pictures of the pest and its destruction at: www.state.oh.us/agr or www.ohioagriculture.gov.