| |
West Virginia will join 14 other states in marking Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Awareness Week May 17-23. Participating States include eight infested states (Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin), as well as five states that border infested states (Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota and New York).
EAB Week is held during the week of the Memorial Day holiday, the traditional kick-off of summertime travel. That’s important, because the traveling public can inadvertently spread EAB and other plant pests.
“We believe campers bringing firewood with them to West Virginia is how EAB came to our state,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass. “This week is larger than just EAB; it is also about the dangers of all non-native species. We are concerned about a variety of organisms that might make their way into our state.”
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) is conducting an ongoing campaign to convince visitors to buy firewood near their campgrounds, or to burn everything they bring so that no pests will survive to infest West Virginia’s forests.
Travelers can expect to hear radio public service announcements, see yard signs along highways, and see the EAB program’s triangular purple traps in trees throughout the state.
First initiated in 2004 by APHIS’ Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) program and the Michigan Department of Agriculture, EAB Awareness Week was designed to increase public awareness regarding the risk associated with moving firewood and the spread of EAB.
EAB is an exotic beetle that was discovered in southeastern Michigan near Detroit in the summer of 2002. Since its discovery, EAB has killed tens of millions of ash trees in numerous states, caused regulatory agencies and APHIS to enforce quarantines to prevent its spread, and cost municipalities, property owners, nursery operators and forest products industries tens of millions of dollars. The adult beetles feed on ash foliage, causing little damage. The larvae (the immature stage) feed on the inner bark of ash trees, disrupting the tree’s ability to transport water and nutrients, leading to the decline and death of infested trees.
EAB was discovered in West Virginia in October 2007 in Fayette County – in the central part of the state. No further spread of EAB was documented in West Virginia in 2008.
Fayette County is currently under both state and federal EAB quarantines. The state quarantine prohibits the movement of any hardwood firewood – as well as ash logs, ash seedlings, ash bark and other regulated articles – from Fayette County to other West Virginia counties. The federal quarantine prohibits the movement of the same regulated articles from Fayette County to other states.
For more information on EAB, visit www.wvagriculture.org, www.stopthebeetle.info, or contact WVDA EAB Regulatory Officer Jodi Wilson at 304-550-0449.
.
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture protects plant, animal and human health through a variety of scientific, regulatory and consumer protection programs, as mandated by state law. The Commissioner of Agriculture is one of six statewide elected officials in West Virginia. Currently, Commissioner Gus R. Douglass is the longest-serving agriculture commissioner in the nation. For more information, visit www.wvagriculture.org.
|
