LISLE, Ill. – The Morton Arboretum is cooperating with the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the U.S. Forest Service to detect the possible presence of the Emerald ash borer (EAB) in northeastern Illinois. A broad, comprehensive survey is underway to find the borer as early as possible to minimize tree loss.
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The Chicago area is at extremely high risk due to the proximity of major infestations, movement of wood products, and important transportation routes. Ash trees are found in forests as well as in urban landscapes where it accounts for nearly 20 percent of all of the region's street trees.
Emerald Ash Borer is a serious invasive beetle from China that kills ash trees. Discovered in 2002, the insect has since established populations in Michigan and killed at least 12 million ash trees in Michigan and Ontario, Canada. It has also been found in Ohio, Indiana and Maryland. Newly infested trees may appear healthy and have no visible symptoms of attack, making detection very difficult. The borer tunnels and feeds under the bark of ash trees cutting off the flow of water and nutrients. The tree canopy will die back and, within three years of infestation, the tree dies.
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The Illinois survey is based on protocols established by the USDA Forest Service for the Midwestern states, which specify visual and 'trap-tree' survey methods. Initial visual surveys are targeted at finding established populations that have readily detectable indicators. Trap trees are being used in "high risk" areas where introductions are most likely to occur. "Research in Michigan has shown that trap trees are the most effective means of detecting and monitoring emerald ash borer populations," says Dr. Frederick Miller, PhD, Research Associate, Entomology and EAB Monitoring Survey Project Manager.
Land managers throughout the metropolitan area are cooperating by offering trees that can be designated as 'trap trees' for the survey. Trap trees are healthy ash trees that are girdled, dressed with 'tanglefoot' (a sticky substance that traps insects), and monitored throughout the adult emergence period ending in mid- to late August. These trap trees are set in forested areas and remote, uncultivated landscapes.
Funds from the survey will be used for staffing, equipment necessary to conduct the survey, and outreach to increase emerald ash borer awareness and readiness. This survey is more comprehensive than the first survey, completed by the Arboretum in 2004.
In the spring of 2003, The Morton Arboretum began to prepare for the threat of EAB by convening an effective Readiness Planning Team comprised of nearly 40 organizations – state, federal, county, and municipal agencies, regional councils of governments, the green industry, and non-profit organizations The survey is a recommended action in the Readiness Plan.
Wood processors, forest preserve districts, nurseries, parks, municipalities, and other public and private landowners throughout Will, Kankakee, DuPage, Cook, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Boone counties are cooperating with the survey. "So many partners have worked with us to prepare the Readiness Plan, and more partners are helping to implement this important component of the plan," says Edith Makra, Community Trees Advocate at The Morton Arboretum. The municipalities have identified a few stressed ash trees at risk for infestation and have agreed to use them as trap trees and are allowing surveyors to monitor over the growing season. "To protect the forests and urban forest of the region, we are using small, weak, and unimportant ash trees as traps," says Makra.
The survey will continue into the fall. It is expected that annual surveying will be necessary given the proximity of existing EAB infestations in Michigan and Indiana.
For more information on the emerald ash borer, visit www.emeraldashborer.info.
The Morton Arboretum is an internationally recognized 1,700-acre outdoor museum with collections of more than 3,700 kinds of trees, shrubs, and other plants from around the world. The Arboretum's beautiful natural landscapes, gardens, research and education programs, and year-round family activities support its mission of planting and conserving trees and other plants for a greener, healthier, and more beautiful world. Visit www.mortonarb.org to learn more.