NEWS RELEASE l Ohio Department of Agriculture

Governor Bob Taft

Lieutenant Governor Bruce Johnson

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

 

Emerald Ash Borer Open Houses Slated for Lucas, Hancock, Wood Counties

 

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio (April 26, 2005) - The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has scheduled two upcoming open houses for the Toledo and North Baltimore areas concerning local Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) eradications. Affected residents in Lucas, Hancock, and Wood counties are invited to get firsthand information on the state’s efforts to eliminate the ash-tree-killing insect.

 

During the open houses, residents can talk directly with ODA’s plant pest control staff, learn about EAB and eradication efforts, view maps of local eradication zones, and learn about EAB quarantine restrictions. Citizens may visit anytime during designated hours, at the following locations:

 

Location:   North Baltimore Library, 230 N. Main Street, North Baltimore, Ohio

                  Wednesday, May 4, 2005, 6-8 p.m.

 

Location:   West Toledo Public Library, 1320 Sylvania Avenue, Toledo, Ohio

                  Thursday, May 5, 2005, 5-8 p.m.

 

ODA has begun eradication in and around the North Baltimore area and will soon begin in west Toledo. In designated eradication zones, all marked ash trees, whether they are visibly infested or not, will be cut, chipped to less than an inch, and destroyed. This is the only known way of eliminating EAB in an already infested area.

 

The department’s eradication program is conducted under its 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.

 

Ash trees typically die within five years of infestation. EAB belongs to a group of insects known as metallic wood-boring beetles. Adults are dark green, one-half inch in length and one-eighth inch wide, and fly only from early May until September. Larvae spend the rest of the year beneath the bark, and when they emerge as adults, leave behind D-shaped exit holes about one-eighth inch wide.

 

For more information about the open houses or eradication, call the department’s EAB hotline,

1-888-OHIO-EAB, or visit the Web site at www.ohioagriculture.gov/eab.

 

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Media contact: Melissa Brewer, EAB Communications, 614.728.6404