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EAB On the Move

Marquette County will become the 38th Wisconsin county to be quarantined for Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), following discovery of the tree-killing beetle in the Town of Montello. In addition, EAB has been confirmed for the first time in Richland County in the town of Dayton.

Marquette County will now be placed under quarantine. Richland County has been under quarantine for EAB since July 2014, so this new find does not change anything from a regulatory standpoint there.

Quarantines prohibit ash wood products and hardwood firewood from being moved to areas that are not quarantined. For businesses handling wood products that could carry EAB, this means that they must work with DATCP to assure that they are not transporting the pest to non-quarantine counties. For private citizens, a quarantine means that residents may not take firewood from these counties to non-quarantine counties.

“We strongly discourage moving firewood even within quarantine areas,” said Brian Kuhn, Plant Industry Bureau Director in the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. “The vast majority of EAB infestations have resulted from the movement of firewood, as evidenced by the number of times our first find in a given county has been in campgrounds. Most of the quarantined counties are not generally infested, so moving firewood within them could bring the pest to new areas in the county that would otherwise remain uninfested for several years.”

DATCP recommends that property owners who have ash trees in quarantine counties:

• Keep a close watch for possible signs of EAB infestation: thinning canopy, D-shaped holes in the bark, cracked bark, branches sprouting low on the trunk, and woodpeckers pulling at bark.

• Consider preventive treatments if your property is within 15 miles of a known infestation.

• Consider planting different species of trees that are not susceptible to EAB.

• Call a professional arborist, and visit emeraldashborer.wi.gov for detailed information.

EAB is quarantined in Door and Kewaunee counties.