Biologists at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources are hopeful they’ve slowed the spread of the dreaded emerald ash borer, a nasty non-native beetle decimating the nation’s ash forests.
From the DNR’s press office:
A survey conducted over the past seven months of the 13 southwest Indiana counties in which emerald ash borer had not been previously detected showed no signs of the invasive insect that kills ash trees.
As part of the survey, traps were strategically located in five southwestern counties: Gibson, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh and Warrick.“The 82 purple traps placed on the designed grid did not capture any of the beetles,” said Phil Marshall, state entomologist.
Visual surveys were also conducted by DNR experts during spring and summer in the eight other southwestern Indiana counties (Crawford, Daviess, Greene, Knox, Martin, Perry, Pike and Sullivan). No new EAB infestations were detected.
Visual survey continues to be the primary method for new detections in the 79 quarantined counties. The survey helps monitor local spread into new areas of infested counties and to detect the first infestation in quarantined counties.At the start of 2012, a total of 28 quarantined counties did not have an EAB infestation. From the 2012 visual survey, EAB was detected for the first time in Henry, Newton and Wayne counties.
In addition to those detections, EAB was detected for the first time in 38 new townships in 18 infested counties, and in the cities of Bloomington, Franklin and West Lafayette.
Detections provide information to guide landowners on management of their ash trees by letting them know how close EAB is. This information allows them to make more informed decisions about management options.
Marshall recommends limited movement of regulated ash material and hardwood firewood within the 79 quarantined counties to reduce further spread of the insect. DNR campgrounds allow only firewood that is federally or state certified, or has had the bark removed.
While movement of regulated ash items within and between the 79 quarantined counties area is no longer restricted, Marshall asks that ash material such as firewood not be moved from an infested quarantined county into a quarantined county that does not have EAB.
To legally move regulated materials out of the 79 quarantined counties, a compliance agreement must be obtained from the Indiana DNR. An application for a compliance agreement can be filed by calling (317) 232-4120. To view quarantined areas and EAB sightings in Indiana, see dnr.IN.gov/entomolo/5349.htm.
I spoke with Marshall this morning. He remained optimistic that the state’s policies restricting ash wood movement can slow the spread of the nasty critters long enough for a remedy to be found to combat the borer.
He said there’s hope parasites, like Chinese wasps whose larvae prey on the borer, may soon start curbing the spread of the green bug thought to have been accidentally imported into the Midwest around 10 years ago.
In a decade, the bug has spread through the East and Midwest killing millions upon millions of native trees.
Marshall has no illusions that even the wasps will stem the tree-killing bugs outright.
“We’re not going to be able to stop it indefinitely,” he said.
Dave Golowenski, the Columbus Dispatch’s outdoor writer, is even less optimistic. In fact, he wrote a depressing, yet lovely, swan song for ash trees in a recent column.
You also should take a look some of our stories and blog posts tackling Indiana’s invasive species issues. This old blog post has plenty of links.
