ANNAPOLIS, MD (April 10, 2012) \u2013 Maryland Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance, Deputy Secretary Mary Ellen Setting, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Rebecca Blue stressed the importance of stopping invasive plants and pests by hanging one of the first survey traps of the season in the trees of Patuxent Wetlands Park in Anne Arundel County. Traps are used to identify and track invasive pests and help officials develop possible eradication or other mitigation measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Maryland, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) \u2013 a small invasive pest that can fit on a penny \u2013 has killed thousands of ash trees across the state. Losses from the EAB could exceed $227.5 million in the Baltimore metro area alone if it goes unchecked,\u201d said Secretary Hance. \u201cThe greenhouse and nursery industry is the second largest agricultural sector in Maryland. It accounts for $1.96 billion in gross receipts. This industry continues to face significant risk from just this one invasive pest. That is why our partnership with USDA and other state Departments of Agriculture in combating them is so critical to agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has designated April \u201cInvasive Plant, Pest and Disease Awareness Month\u201d to enlist public support for preventing the spread of a growing number of invasive pests that are feeding on America’s agricultural crops, trees and other plants. These pests have cost the U.S. billions of dollars, wreaked havoc on the environment and can impact public health.<\/p>\n
In Maryland, the EAB has been a menace since it was discovered in 2003. A quarantine is in effect for the 14 counties west of the Chesapeake Bay and Susquehanna River, making it illegal to transport firewood and ash products to the Eastern Shore where the EAB has not yet been discovered.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvasive species, like Emerald Ash Borer, pose big threats to our agriculture and our economy,\u201d said Deputy Under Secretary Blue. \u201cThe EAB survey program helps us know where the beetle populations reside, which allows us to make informed decisions about how to control EAB.\u00a0 And the purple traps are distinctive, so we get a lot of public interest about what they are as well.\u00a0 Public awareness is a big part of helping control the EAB.\u201d<\/p>\n
To learn more about how to recognize an EAB infestation, see: www.mda.maryland.gov\/plants-pests\/eab <\/a>or www.hungrypests.com<\/a>. To report suspect EAB infestation or to ask specific questions, call the University of Maryland Home and Garden Information Center at 800-342-2507 or visit www.hgic.umd.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n For a current fact sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ANNAPOLIS, MD (April 10, 2012) \u2013 Maryland Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance, Deputy Secretary Mary Ellen Setting, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Rebecca Blue stressed the importance of stopping invasive plants and pests by hanging one of the first survey traps of the season in the trees of Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[89,87,88],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","tag-disease","tag-invasive-plant","tag-pest"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions\/298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}