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

January 6, 2005

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

 

Emerald Ash Borer Open House Scheduled for Northwood and Walbridge Area


REYNOLDSBURG - The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) will target areas in and around Northwood and Walbridge in Wood County 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 Northwood and Walbridge area and ODA plant pest officials.
What:
Emerald Ash Borer Open House
When:
Tuesday, Jan. 18, 6-8 p.m.
Where:
Loop Park Shelter House, 300 Guy Street, Walbridge, Ohio.
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. Since that time, Emerald Ash Borer surveyors working to determine the extent of the Oregon-area infestation have discovered additional infestations, including several near Northwood, Ohio, and Walbridge, Ohio, in northern Wood County.

 

Marked trees within ½-mile radius of the infestations will soon be cut down. 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 the local eradication zone, “Oregon-Lucas County” located under “Maps.”

 

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