Emerald Ash Borer Community Preparedness Manual

Bark removed to show larval galleries.

The University of Minnesota Natural Resources Extension has just released an Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Community Preparedness Manual.  I thought I would share it with my readers since emerald ash borer is rapidly moving across Pennsylvania.  Recent maps show EAB in all counties except for the northern tier of the state and the extreme southeast.  It is also in 14 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

Emerald ash borer is a devastating wood-boring tree pest that has killed millions of ash trees in the eastern and central U.S. A large percentage of urban and community trees in Pennsylvania are ash species, all of which are vulnerable to EAB. While EAB is all but impossible to eradicate once it arrives in an area, well-planned response efforts can slow its spread and reduce the impact on urban and community forests. A response plan is important because it provides a community with the opportunity to plan ahead to spread the costs and losses associated with the impacts of EAB. The new EAB Community Preparedness Manual can help communities plan ahead to reduce costs and losses from this invasive pest.

The manual includes numerous resources from across the country compiled to help a community prepare for the arrival of EAB, including topics such as general emerald ash borer information, managing emerald ash borer, tree inventories and replacement, quarantine and regulation, firewood information, insecticide options, wood utilization, and examples of available educational outreach materials. The manual was compiled by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the University of Minnesota with assistance from other organizations. For more information click here. (University of Minnesota Forest Resources Extension, June 2013)