May 15, 2008

LANSING, MI - Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has declared the week of May 18th, Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Awareness Week in Michigan, which is part of an effort to limit the spread of EAB to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and across the nation.

“Across the Lower Peninsula, Michigan residents have witnessed the loss of millions of ash trees, which in some cases has dramatically changed the landscape of what were once beautiful tree-lined streets,” said Granholm. “We continue to fight the battle to save what is left of this precious natural resource and call on residents to join us in that fight.”

State officials are asking residents to honor quarantines that are in place, which make the transport of hardwood firewood off-limits to the Upper Peninsula or out of quarantined areas. Also banned is the movement of regulated articles such as ash trees, ash logs and lumber with bark, and wood chips greater than one inch.

State agriculture officials note that for residents in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, EAB has been a household name for the last six years; however, it’s relatively new to residents and travelers in the Upper Peninsula. Michigan is participating in a national prevention effort to halt the spread of EAB across the United States.

“Michigan continues to be on the front-line in efforts to identify biological control organisms and treatment options as well as national research efforts to learn more about how we can live with EAB,” said Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) Director Don Koivisto. “Although there are isolated areas of infestation, the U.P. continues to be a primary focus in preventing the pest from spreading to Michigan’s western U.P. and neighboring states. EAB Awareness Week further highlights our efforts to ensure the UP’s forest resources don’t suffer the same devastating effects experienced in much of the Lower Peninsula.”

Michigan residents and visitors are urged to learn about EAB and adhere to the state’s quarantine banning the transport of ash trees, ash materials, and all hardwood firewood from quarantined areas. Quarantine violators face fines/penalties ranging from $1,000 up to $250,000 and face up to five years in jail if found guilty of transporting hardwood firewood out of the quarantine zones or Lower Peninsula into the Upper Peninsula or surrounding states.

Along with Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin are using the national EAB Awareness Week to underscore the need for continued cooperation and support of citizens, tourists, communities, government, and industry partners for containing this pest and protecting the millions of ash trees blanketing North America.

In 2008, MDA, the United States Department of Agriculture, and other EAB partners will be participating in a federal trapping strategy to help establish a national footprint of where the pest is located in the U.S. Michigan motorists traveling in the U.P. will begin to see three-dimensional purple traps hanging from ash trees beginning in early June.

“Preventing the artificial spread of EAB in the Upper Peninsula continues to be critical to safeguarding ash as a genus in Michigan’s forest landscape,” said Ken Rauscher, MDA’s Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Division Director. “Slowing the spread of ash mortality affords researchers the opportunity to identify additional tools necessary to combat this devastating pest.”

Emerald Ash Borer is an exotic insect native to Asia that attacks ash trees in its larval stage; EAB feeds undetected under the bark of ash trees, disrupting water and nutrient flow, and ultimately killing the trees in just a few years. First discovered in 2002, the borer is responsible for the death or damage of approximately 20 million ash trees in Michigan.

For more information on the Michigan EAB quarantine, please visit www.michigan.gov/eab or www.emeraldashborer.info