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The Ohio Department of Agriculture is using methods similar to those used in Michigan since 2003 to eradicate the destructive Emerald Ash Borer insect from Ohio. The department's current eradication plan has been developed with consultation from a multi-agency task force of experts.

Quarantine to Contain the Pest

The following areas are quarantined until further notice:

Entire state of Michigan
All of Allen Township in Hancock County, State of Ohio
All of Hicksville Township in Defiance County, State of Ohio
All of Henry Township in Wood County, State of Ohio
The portion of Lucas County west of County Road 202, State of Ohio
The portion of Lake Township, in Wood County, east of Tracy Road and north of State Route 795, State of Ohio
The portion of Fulton County east of State Route 109, State of Ohio
The portion of Henry County east of State Route 109 and north of the Maumee River, State of Ohio
Individual properties throughout northwest Ohio
Infested Indiana counties: Steuben and LaGrange

Residents within these quarantined areas are restricted from moving any ash trees, branches, logs, wood chips, other ash-tree materials, or non-coniferous firewood.

Eradicate before the Insect Can Hatch

The eradication process is timed to eliminate the pest before it can begin emerging in mid-May and spread to other properties.

The winged beetle has been found in nature to fly less than one-half mile per year. If any larvae or pupae remain after the host trees are cut, they would not be able to find a host tree within flying distance and would die out.

Survey Procedures

Ohio Department of Agriculture plant pest inspectors and surveyors work to �delimit� the area of each point infestation. To do this, the inspectors survey ash trees in the area to determine the outside boundaries of any spread that may have occurred from the point from where an infestation was first discovered. Survey crews will identify and mark ash trees with bright paint and look for dead or dying ash trees. In some cases, the workers will cut into the bark of the trees to look for tunneling. Live larvae can be found in infested trees at certain times of the year.

Cutting Host Trees the Only Way to Eradicate

There is no practical, proven insecticide treatment for trees already infested. In order to effectively destroy the insect, the host trees must be cut from properties in the near vicinity and chipped into small pieces (1-inch diameter or less) before being removed and burned.

The process described below is currently used to eradicate infested sites: (Eradication Fact Sheet)

The tree removal contractor will cut trees from the properties that have been identified for removal. The contractor will chip small- to medium-sized trees with special equipment on-site. These chips will be shipped to a marshalling yard and reground to 1-inch or less in diameter. Experts believe that when host material is cut into pieces smaller than 1-inch the insect cannot survive.
Tree chips will be loaded onto trucks, carefully secured with tarps, and trucked to Flint, Michigan, where they will be burned at a power plant.
Logs that are too large to be chipped on site will be transported by truck to a marshalling yard where they will be chipped using heavy equipment and loaded onto trucks for shipping to the power plant. The heavy equipment cannot be used at the residential properties because their weight could cause property damage.
Stumps are ground in residential areas when possible. Remaining stumps in natural areas are sprayed with an approved herbicide to prevent re-growth.
All care will be taken by the contractor to eliminate or minimize damage to adjacent trees, plants, yards, land, driveways, etc., but this size of project will probably cause some mess or damage to the above. The contractor is required to restore any such damage to properties as part of the contract. Most of the damage will be taken care of within a month after it occurs, but some sites, due to wet conditions may not be renovated until later in the summer.
After eradication is completed, surveys of the area will continue over the next few years to look for additional infestations.

Contractors Hired by the State, Paid for by Federal Funds

The Ohio Department of Agriculture has hired contractors through a bidding process to perform the eradication with funds committed by the USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Services. There is currently no cost to homeowners for tree removal.