Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week is May 23-29

Stop the spread of the beetle: Don’t take firewood on vacation, buy it at your destination

ANNAPOLIS, MD (May 21, 2010) – Maryland is joining the national recognition of Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week May 23-29, 2010.  This is part of an ongoing effort to inform residents about ways to help stop the spread of the emerald ash borer, a destructive pest that kills ash trees.  Because the insect can be transported through firewood, the focus of the campaign is to encourage campers, anglers, scouts, and other outdoor enthusiasts to leave firewood at home, buy it at their destination and burn it completely.
“With the beginning of the summer vacation season upon us, we remind residents that they can do their part to help stop the spread of the emerald ash borer by leaving their firewood at home,” said Governor O’Malley.  “Ash trees are important to our environment by shading and cooling our neighborhoods in the summer, by providing buffers along our streams, and as part of our timber industry, so we need to do what we can to stop this destructive beetle in its tracks.”

Since ash is used to make baseball bats, part of the awareness effort will be a fun summer-long campaign with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs and Bowie Baysox. The campaign also includes “Don’t move firewood! It Bugs Me!” bumper magnets; yard signs; billboards, and outreach to private campgrounds.

As part of the state’s effort to stop the spread of the pest, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is prohibiting campers and other visitors from bringing outside firewood onto its properties.  DNR staff will be notifying campers of the restriction when reservations are made and by notices posted at the properties. Personnel will be able to direct visitors to local sources of firewood and require campers to burn all firewood transported to a DNR property.

Surveys, which are continuous and ongoing, are crucial to understanding the emerald ash borer’s impact in Maryland and determining the best course of action.  Currently, MDA is hanging up to 4,000 purple triangular purple insect traps in trees statewide to determine the presence of EAB, up from 2,500 last year. This year, the battle to stop the spread of the emerald ash borer will include more intensive surveys in Western Maryland and on the Eastern Shore. Additionally, MDA will use systemic insecticides to treat selected trees in and around the known infested area and release three biocontrol agents (beneficial wasps) at selected sites.

“Because the emerald ash borer has spread through parts of Prince George’s and Charles counties, quarantines are effect,” said Agriculture Secretary Earl F. Hance.  “In order to keep the rest of the state safe from these pests, it is illegal to move all forms of ash trees and wood.  The beetle can only move a short distance on its own but it and others like it can move hundreds of miles on infested firewood.”

The emerald ash borer was transported to Prince George’s County, Maryland on an illegal shipment of ash trees from Michigan in 2003.  Thousands of ash trees have been destroyed in Prince George’s and Charles counties to eradicate the problem. The insect, an exotic pest from Asia, feeds on and kills ash trees in one to three years after infestation.

The only way to eliminate the emerald ash borer is to remove its food source – ash trees. Since 2003, the MDA, DNR, and other partners, with federal funding support have cut more than 40,000 ash trees in Prince George’s County and Charles County to stop the spread of the beetle. Most of the trees are in forested areas, although some are street and neighborhood trees.

The emerald ash borer is responsible for the loss of more than 30 million trees in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana where it has become established.  USDA has estimated that losses could reach almost $300 million in the Baltimore area alone if the beetle were left unchecked.   In Maryland, ash is the most common street tree in Baltimore, making up about 10 percent of total trees.  Ash accounts for more than three percent of trees in naturally wooded area in Baltimore and surrounding counties. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources also estimates that about 20 percent of our streamside trees, vital to the health of the Chesapeake Bay, are ash trees.

Log onto www.stopthebeetle.info to learn more about the emerald ash borer and ways that everyone can help stop its spread. Maryland residents and property owners can call the University of Maryland Home and Garden Information center toll-free at 800-342-2507 or the MDA at 410-841-5920 to report dying ash trees or for help identifying a possible emerald ash borer. Anyone can report suspect EAB through the Maryland Home and Garden Information Center’s reporting form.

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