Emerald Ash Borer was identified in West Virginia in October of 2007. The West Virginia Department of Agriculture has developed a response plan battling the pest through detection, regulation and education to protect the state's ashpopulation. The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) kills ash trees within three to five years of infestation. Adults are dark metallic green, 1/2 inch in length and 1/8 inch wide, and fly only from mid-May to September. Larvae spend the rest of the year developing beneath the bark. To date, infestations in West Virginia have been identified in Berkeley, Braxton, Brook, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hancock, Kanawha, Lewis, Lincoln, Mercer, Mingo, Mineral, Morgan, Nicholas, Raleigh, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Webster and Wirt Counties.

EAB Larvae

In 2009, the state was placed under a Federal EAB Quarantine which restricted the movement of ash nursery stock, unprocessed (green) ash lumber, and any other ash material, including logs, stumps, roots and branches out of the state without Federal certification. Due to the wide spread of EAB across several states, as of July 1, 2012, the Federal quarantine isn’t limited to just individual states, but a group of states: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia and parts of Maryland, New York, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Connecticut, Kansas and Michigan.

Due to the difficulty in distinguishing between species, ALL HARDWOOD FIREWOOD is considered quarantined.

Regulated articles can only be moved to areas outside the Federal quarantine or into protected areas within the Federal quarantine if officially certified as having met specific conditions aimed at mitigating possible spread of the beetle.

Businesses or individuals wanting to move or accept ash trees or parts of an ash tree, from quarantined areas must first have a compliance agreement.

Galleries left under the bark of an ash tree by the EAB larvae.

These businesses must be willing and able to employ acceptable handling practices, as outlined in the signed agreement, that help ensure EAB is not inadvertently introduced to new areas. Compliance agreement holders accomplish this by removing and destroying possibly infested parts of the tree (the bark and half inch of the sap wood) and by restricting movement of quarantined materials to times of the year when the larvae are immobile under the bark (October 1 – March 31).

If compliance conditions are violated, the agreement will be cancelled and the business may be subject to civil penalties. Officials regularly inspect approved facilities for continued compliance.

Compliance agreements can be issued by the USDA.

Types of Compliance agreements:

• Shipper

• Haulers moving quarantined materials from quarantined area for processing.
  
  
• Only moves quarantined materials during non-flight season (Oct. 1 through March 31);
  
  
• Only moves quarantined materials to a receiving mill under compliance

• Receiver
  

• Located OUTSIDE of a quarantined area and receiving quarantined ash tree logs, parts of an ash tree, unprocessed (green) ash lumber.
  

  EAB Quarantine FAQs Click on above to view FAQs.

  
  
• Able to segregate ash logs coming from quarantined areas;
  
  
• Able to remove and destroy bark and outer half inch of sapwood from ash logs originating from quarantined areas;
  
  
• Not selling firewood (i.e. slab wood) from quarantined materials;
  
  
• Allowed to receive regulated materials between Oct. 1 and April 1. The facility must have all quarantined material processed by April 7.