A tiny insect has the potential of wiping out millions of ash trees in Iowa.
State foresters are trying to fight back against the Emerald ash borer.
The tree-killing beetle could be as devastating as Dutch elm disease.
Scrape, peel and shave these trees and maybe, just maybe, you'll find the Emerald Ash Borer experts say is headed for Iowa.
State Entomologist, Robin Pruiser said, "We don't talk about if emerald ash borer gets here we say when ash borer gets here. It's possible it's here now and we haven't been able to find it."
That’s why state tree and bug experts are training local foresters to search for signs of the beetle.
What they are looking for on these trees is a small "d" shaped whole on the outside of the bark. If they find it that means it's already too late.
Dubuque Landscaper, Roger Meyer "First of all I have an ash tree in my backyard and like I said when you're in the business you want to be looking out for trouble coming on."
There have been no cases reported in Iowa, but the bug has killed ash trees as close as Chicago.
Pruiser said, "In July of 2006, Illinois’s Cook and Kane counties had their first discoveries of the emerald ash borer, that's only about two hours away from our borders."
Pruisner says some signs of an infested tree are if the tree starts sprouting branches on the trunk.
Or if the branches start to die or thin out, and when this happens all you can do is tear out the tree down to its roots.
It's against federal law to take firewood into our out of Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.
And in Iowa officials would rather campers only use wood that's from the state.