8/31/2011
State and federal officials have recently detected emerald ash borer (EAB) in five West Virginia counties – Brooke, Berkeley, Greenbrier, Hancock and Summers. Those counties join a growing list where EAB has been detected, according to the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA). The destructive insects – which have killed an estimated 25 million ash trees in North America – have been found in 10 West Virginia counties this summer alone.
The number of counties may rise as workers with WVDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) continue to collect the sticky purple prism traps that can be seen hanging in trees along many West Virginia roads.
“The discovery of emerald ash borer in 10 new counties this summer is a real eye-opener,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass. “It is a documented fact that invasive insects can spread through something as simple as moving firewood from one area to another. Please use local firewood when camping rather than taking your own.”
WVDA reported earlier this year that EAB had been detected in Gilmer, Kanawha, Mingo, Webster and Wirt Counties.
WVDA found EAB in Fayette County in 2007, Morgan and Roane Counties in 2009, and Raleigh, Calhoun and Nicholas Counties in 2010 – making a total of 16 infested counties.
Plant Industries Division Director Sherrie Hutchinson said, “No one wanted to find more EAB in the state, but the survey definitely enforces the fact that this invasive beetle has spread through artificial movement. Every time you move infested ash firewood or logs you help move the beetle. They are under the bark where you don’t see them, so please don’t move firewood.”
EAB attacks only ash trees. It is believed to have been introduced into the Detroit, Mich., area 15-20 years ago on wood packing material from Asia. Since then, EAB has been found in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Ontario and Quebec.
Anyone with questions about EAB can contact the WVDA’s Plant Industries Division at 304-558-2212, or visit
www.emeraldashborer.info.
Contact Information
Buddy Davidson, Communications Officer
304-558-3708; 304-541-5932 (cell)
bdavidson@ag.state.wv.us