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	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

I. Overview of Current Situation
Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus Planipennis), a destructive exotic pest from Asia, was first identified in Ohio in Lucas County in 2003. This followed the first Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) infestation found in North America in Michigan in 2002.

Since the first discovery in Ohio, satellite infestations have been identified in Auglaize, Defiance, Delaware, Franklin, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Lucas, Ottawa, and Wood counties. Infestation sites throughout these counties in northwest Ohio have been marked for eradication to eliminate the pest and to protect the state’s more than 3.8 billion ash trees from devastation. Six of these sites have been eradicated where more than 50,000 ash trees have been destroyed. The eradication process continues at the remaining sites. (Ohio’s Infestation Map available at www.ohioagriculture.gov/eab)

Governor Bob Taft signed an Executive Order on September 16, 2003 authorizing a quarantine to prevent the spread of EAB. The quarantine prohibits the movement of ash trees, branches, bark, logs, wood chips, other ash materials, and non-coniferous firewood out of designated areas in northwest Ohio. A state ban also prohibits movement of these materials from Michigan into Ohio and from infested Indiana counties into Ohio. (Quarantine Information available at www.ohioagriculture.gov/eab)

Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Fred Dailey has convened an Ohio EAB Task Force, tapping experts from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio State University, USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and USDA’s Forest Service. This task force, with recommendations from the National EAB Science Advisory Panel, has developed and implemented eradication plans for this pest in Ohio.

II. About the Emerald Ash Borer
Emerald Ash Borer is a deadly threat to ash trees (Fraxinus spp.), killing host trees within three to five years of infestation. The pest belongs to a group of insects known as the metallic wood-boring beetles. Adults are dark metallic green in color, 1/2 inch in length and 1/8 inch wide, and fly only from early May until September. Larvae spend the rest of the year developing beneath the bark of ash trees, and when they emerge as adults, leave D-shaped exit holes in the bark about 1/8 inch wide.

The pest is difficult to detect in its first year of infestation, as it first infests the tops of ash trees and works its way down. Infested ash trees are essentially choked to death by larvae feeding on the cambium layer -- the live tissue just beneath the bark responsible for transporting nutrients throughout the tree. Signs of EAB include dieback at the tops of ash trees, D-shaped exit holes, S-shaped larval galleries, epicormic sprouts, woodpecker damage, and bark splits.

Research has shown that the natural spread of the pest is less than one-half mile per year. However, EAB can be easily, yet unknowingly spread through the movement of infested ash material such as logs, nursery stock, firewood, etc. The majority of Ohio’s infestations were introduced through the artificial spread of this insect.

III. Ohio Response
Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) EAB surveyors, with valuable assistance from state, federal, and local governments, are working to detect and eradicate Emerald Ash Borer in Ohio. ODA is implementing eradication procedures with sole funding provided by USDA APHIS. In early 2005, the state requested $11.6 million in federal funds to combat this ash tree threat. Additional finds have necessitated an added $10.1 million for eradication in 2005, which ODA has requested from USDA.

The funds have been used to hire staff to coordinate surveys, perform compliance work and eradication, and communicate public information. Monies also have been used to purchase new equipment to accomplish these tasks. To date, 55 employees have been hired specifically for the EAB program.

A. Eradication
Since it was first discovered in Whitehouse in 2003, the department has eradicated six sites and destroyed more than 50,000 ash trees. The department currently is eradicating two infestation sites: North Baltimore (Wood and Hancock counties), Oregon/East Toledo (Lucas and Wood counties). ODA plans to eradicate all of Ohio’s infestations, depending on the continuance of federal funding.

The eradication process begins only after the department has received federal confirmation of an EAB lifestage. Also, before eradication steps begin, USDA must complete an environmental assessment. This has been done for all of northwest Ohio.

Typically, the department removes all ash trees within one-half mile of an infested tree, whether they are visibly infested or not. Ash trees that appear healthy, along with infested ash trees, must be destroyed because they are hosts for the pest and because it is difficult to find infestations in their first year without cutting down the tree. Destroying all ash trees within a half-mile cutting zone is based on recommendations from the National EAB Science Advisory Panel.

Outside of the half-mile eradication zone, EAB surveyors “delimit” or survey an additional mile, looking for signs of the pest in all ash trees. If an infested tree is found in the delimiting area, the eradication zone is expanded to include the new half-mile radius.

Before cutting begins, property owners within the eradication zone are contacted regarding the eradication process. Their ash trees are seized and their property quarantined by the department, prohibiting the movement of ash materials off their property. Residents also are invited to an ODA-hosted open house to learn about EAB, talk with the department’s plant pest control staff and staff from cooperating agencies, and see maps of the eradication area.

Typically the eradication process occurs during the non-flight season, from October until April. Destroying trees during this timeframe breaks the lifecycle of EAB by killing the pest in its larval stage, before the adults emerge and disperse. (Eradication Fact Sheet available at www.ohioagriculture.gov/eab).

B. Detection
Along with the department’s visual surveying efforts in northwest Ohio in 2004, the department enrolled the assistance of a new detection tool. Surveyors placed “detection trees” around eradication zones and in areas where infestations could exist but had not yet been detected. Healthy ash trees were wounded by a girdling process, and then sticky “tangle foot” was applied to the trunk of the tree above the wounded area to trap EAB adults as they climbed to the tops of the tree.

These detection tools, while not a guaranteed way to find EAB, did lead to several key finds in Ohio in 2004. The department, which utilized nearly 500 detection trees in 2004 to gauge Ohio’s infestation, plans to implement a detection-tree strategy again in 2005 with high concentration along the Ohio-Michigan border. Roughly 1,700 trees have been identified throughout 14 counties in northwest Ohio. (Detection Tree Map available at www.ohioagriculture.gov/eab).

C. Quarantines
To stop the artificial spread of EAB out of areas that are already known to be infested, the department has designated quarantined areas in northwest Ohio. Currently, the areas include Hicksville Township in Defiance County, Allen Township in Hancock County, Henry Township in Wood County, and the area formed by Lucas County west of County Road 202 (North Curtice Road); Fulton County east of State Route 109; Henry County east of State Route 109 and north of the Maumee River; and Wood County, Lake Township east of Tracy Road and north of State Route 795 (Quarantine Map available at www.ohioagriculture.gov/eab).

ODA officials, with assistance from USDA’s APHIS officials, are working to enforce EAB regulations, which halt the movement of ash materials and non-coniferous firewood. Ohio bans also prohibit the movement of these materials from Michigan into Ohio and from Indiana’s infested counties, Steuben and LaGrange, into Ohio. State and federal officials also are working with residents and businesses in the affected areas to get compliance agreements in place. Violators of Ohio’s quarantine face fines of up to $4,000. Federal quarantines also exist in Michigan and Ohio.

IV. Future Plans
ODA officials expect to find EAB in Ohio again and will continue to pursue it aggressively. At this time, ODA plans to attack all known EAB infestations. The department is working to cut off Ohio’s infestation to the east and west, and is working its way north.

The USDA is heading a multi-state plan to implement a “gateway” strategy that would include parts of northwest Ohio, northeast Indiana, and northern Michigan. In these areas, residents and businesses will be encouraged to reduce their ash tree population in order to utilize any marketable timber and also to form a barrier against the pest by removing its host material.

V. Advice to Consumers
Citizens can help by reporting signs of EAB to the Ohio Department of Agriculture Division of Plant Industry at 1-888-OHIO-EAB. They should also refrain from moving ash trees, lumber, or firewood inside or beyond the borders of counties with infestations and alert the department if they receive such items.

The state also is asking citizens, including those outside regulated areas in northwest Ohio, to refrain from moving unidentified firewood, which could inadvertently contribute to the spread of EAB. ODA, along with the Ohio State University, does not suggest the use of insecticides to ward off EAB. At this point, no treatments have proven 100 percent effective. Currently, the only known way to destroy the pest is to destroy the entire tree. In Ohio, ash trees within the department’s half-mile eradication zones will be destroyed to stop the movement of EAB, even if the trees have been treated.

NEWS RELEASE l Ohio Department of Agriculture

Communications Office