Exotic Pest Threatens Eastern Shore Trees; MDA Reminds Residents Not to Transport Firewood Across the Chesapeake Bay

ANNAPOLIS, MD (March 13, 2012) – The emerald ash borer (EAB), a small exotic beetle that has been destroying ash trees since it was found in Maryland in 2003, has not yet been found on the Eastern Shore, but 2012 may be the year that changes if residents are not vigilant about where they bring firewood. Last year, Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance quarantined all 14 counties west of the Chesapeake Bay and Susquehanna River, making it illegal for Marylanders to move firewood to the Eastern Shore without a federal permit. The EAB, which is expected to appear as early as mid-April this year, hides in firewood. The Maryland Department of Agriculture encourages everyone to buy their firewood at their destination rather than take it with them so they do not unknowingly infest an area with the pest.

“This pest has killed thousands of ash trees in the last few years and caused homeowners, county and municipal officials, landscapers, and the entire nursery industry giant headaches and economic setbacks,” said Secretary Hance. “We cannot stress enough how important it is to do everything possible to keep the emerald ash borer off the Eastern Shore. The best way citizens can help do that is to prevent firewood from the rest of the state from crossing the Chesapeake Bay.”

Last year, MDA’s Plant Protection and Weed Management Section hung 765 insect traps across the Eastern Shore (i.e., 85 traps in each of the nine counties) to determine if the pest was there. None were detected. Due to a significant reduction in federal funding, MDA will hang only 160 traps across the entire shore this year. MDA hung a total of 2,600 traps across the state last year, but will hang only 500 this year. Hanging those traps began last week and will be complete by the end of April. Insect traps are not an eradication method. They are a survey tool used to determine whether the pest is present and how it is moving. Once EAB is discovered, officials then determine what, if any, additional measures are needed and how existing, limited resources can be deployed.

EAB has been found in 15 states. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which funds EAB surveying and biocontrol efforts, is focusing its 2012 National EAB Trapping Survey resources on the border areas of those infested states. In Maryland those areas include the nine Eastern Shore counties, St. Mary’s, Calvert, Anne Arundel, and Harford counties. Traps in those areas will be in place by the end of March and fully operational by April 15.

The EAB traps are purple, look like triangular kites, and are sticky and baited with a compound that attracts EAB if present. Residents need not be concerned if they see the traps and should not disturb them.  All traps will remain in place through August. MDA staff will check them every three weeks (rather than every two weeks, as they did last year) to see if the EAB is present.

In an effort to slow the spread of the destructive pest, MDA will, for the second year in a row, release tiny stingless wasps – a natural enemy of the EAB – as a biological control in six counties. Those releases will begin in May. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspect Service (APHIS) Plant Protection and Quarantine Laboratory in Brighton, Mich. raises and harvests these stingless wasps for monitored releases in selected EAB infested locations. Seven other states released the wasps last year. Data are still being collected to determine how effective this bio-control effort is against the EAB.

Now is the Time to Protect Your Trees
Due to the warm winter experienced in the state, MDA officials expect the EAB to emerge early this year, perhaps as early as the middle of April. (It usually emerges in mid-May.) For homeowners or businesses that have valuable ash trees in the quarantine area, or within 20 miles of a known infestation site, now is the time to consult a professional pesticide applicator about treating the trees and protecting them from EAB. Most trees die within three years of infestation, and the presence of EAB typically goes undetected until it is heavily infested.

How the Public Can Help
Because funding to track and manage the EAB population has been reduced 51 percent over last year, MDA encourages landscapers and homeowners, especially those on the Eastern Shore and other high risk areas, to inspect their own trees for any signs of the beetle or its damage and report any concerns to the University of Maryland Home and Garden Information Center at: 800-342-2507.

The EAB adult is a bright, metallic green beetle, about a half-inch long with a flattened back. It has purple abdominal segments under its wing covers. The EAB can fit on the head of a penny and is hard to spot in the wild.

Symptoms of an infested tree:

• The upper third of a tree will thin and then die back. This is usually followed by a large number of shoots or branches arising below the dead portions of the trunk.
• D-shaped exit holes in the bark where adults emerge;
• Vertical splits in the bark, and distinct serpentine-shaped tunnels beneath the bark in the cambium, where larvae effectively stop food and water movement in the tree, starving it to death.
• Extensive damage from woodpeckers that bore through the bark to eat the beetle.

The EAB was transported illegally from Asia into the United States sometime in the mid 1990s on wood imports. It was then transported to Prince George’s County on an illegal shipment of ash trees from Michigan in 2003. Thousands of ash trees across the state have been destroyed since, and millions have died nationwide. Ash trees are among the most popular tree used by landscapers and homeowners. It is also used frequently in making furniture, flooring, baseball bats, hockey sticks, guitars and other popular consumer items.  USDA estimates that there are between 5.9 and 6.5 million ash trees in the Baltimore metro area. Losses could exceed $227.5 million in the Baltimore area alone.

For more info about how to identify the EAB or ash tree damage, see:http://www.mda.state.md.us/go/eab/ or  http://www.stopthebeetle.info/signs-symptoms/