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West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner Gus R. Douglass has amended the West Virginia Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine by declaring Morgan County infested with the destructive, introduced beetle that has already killed more than 25 million ash trees in North America.
The state quarantine prohibits the movement of all firewood – as well as ash logs, ash timber scraps and other regulated articles from Morgan and Fayette Counties to other West Virginia counties so as to stop the spread of the beetle by artificial means. A similar federal quarantine prohibits the movement of the same regulated articles from regulated counties to other states.
“The discovery of emerald ash borer (EAB) in Morgan County illustrates just how effective these non-native insects and other invasive species can be at moving around undetected until they begin to visibly damage our forests, urban environments and agricultural crops,” said Commissioner Douglass.
“We just completed our gypsy moth suppression project for this year,” he added, “and now we will begin surveying Morgan County to learn the extent of the EAB infestation there and try to prevent its spread into uninfested areas.”
The EAB attacks only ash trees. It is believed to have been introduced into the Detroit, Michigan, area 15-20 years ago on wood packing material from Asia. Since then the destructive insect has been found in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. In 2007 EAB was detected in Fayette County, West Virginia.
Anyone with questions about EAB or the state EAB quarantine can call the West Virginia Department of Agriculture’s (WVDA) Emerald Ash Borer Regulatory Officer Jody Wilson at 304-254-2941 or WVDA’s Plant Industries Division at 304-558-2212.
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.
“The Basis of All Wealth is Agriculture.”
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