Governor O’Malley Declares May 20-26 Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week

ANNAPOLIS, MD (May 21, 2012) – Governor Martin O’Malley is designating May 20-26 Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Awareness Week – the same week the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) plans to release biocontrol agents in Anne Arundel, Charles, Howard and Prince George’s counties to help kill the invasive pest that has been destroying the state’s ash trees since 2003. The ash tree is one of the most important urban trees in Maryland and an important woodland tree in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

“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 buying firewood in the area where they will burn it and by not moving firewood to the Eastern Shore,” said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance.  “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.”

Last year, Secretary 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. The EAB, which has not been detected on the Shore, hides in firewood. MDA 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 week, MDA plans to release the first of 16,000 egg parasitoids/biocontrol agents (or natural predators) of the EAB. Although MDA released agents last year, the method of release has changed. In the past, the tiny stingless wasps were released into infested areas to do their work. This year, the egg parasitoid Ooebius agrili will arrive at MDA as larvae inside emerald ash borer eggs which have been laid on small ash wood twigs. This method is expected to greatly improve survival of the oobius parasitoid by reducing stress and death caused by shipping adults. Those twigs will be covered in everyday Solo cups to protect them from predators. When they hatch, they will take off into infested areas and lay their eggs in the eggs of the EAB, destroying them. MDA will also release these parasitoids in Washington and Allegany counties in June.

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Plant Protection and Quarantine laboratory in Brighton, Michigan raises and harvests these stingless wasps for monitored releases in selected EAB infested locations. EAB has been discovered in 15 states; seven of those states released the wasps last year. Data are still being collected to determine how effective this bio-control effort is against the EAB. For more info about how to identify the EAB or ash tree damage, see: www.mda.maryland.gov/go/eab/ or www.stopthebeetle.info/signs-symptoms.