BELLE PLAINE, Minn. — The tree-decimating pest known as the emerald ash borer (EAB) continues to make its way across Minnesota's landscape.
Officials from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) announced Monday that the presence of the invasive insect has been confirmed in Carver and Sibley counties, the 24th and 25th counties in the state to be impacted.
MDA says a tree care professional contacted the department recently after spotting several trees with EAB-like symptoms near Belle Plaine and the Carver-Sibley County border. MDA staff found that the trees were infested with emerald ash borer larvae.
Because this is the first discovery of EAB in those counties, state agricultural officials are enacting an emergency quarantine to limit the movement of firewood and ash material around and outside of the counties. What that means is that it is now illegal to take untreated firewood out of Carver and Sibley counties and into the rest of Minnesota.
MDA believes this will limit the spread of the pest.
Emerald ash borer larvae kill ash trees by tunneling under the bark and feeding on the part of the tree that moves nutrients up and down the trunk. The EAB was first discovered in Minnesota in 2009, and is now found in 35 U.S. states.
The spread of EAB will have a major impact on Minnesota. The state has approximately one billion ash trees, the most of any state in the nation.
Symptoms of infestation include splits in the bark of an ash tree caused by tunneling EAB larvae, and woodpecker activity as the bird enjoys feeding on the larvae.
