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Last updated on Monday, December 15, 2014
(UNDATED) - According to a press release from the Indiana Department of Natural resources, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has made its way to neighboring Sullivan County.
That makes a total of 79 Indiana counties where the tree-killing bug has been located. The EAB was also recently detected for the first time in Jennings, Pike, Scott, Spencer and Warrick counties.
The EAB was detected in Greene County in 2013 and again this year. The first reports were in July of 2013 when EAB were discovered by Panel Trap testing near Newberry and north of Bloomfield. Another Panel Test near Solsberry found the unwanted pest in September.
By February of 2014 the EAB had been seen during a visual inspection of an infected tree near Hidden Hills, Golf Course in rural eastern Greene County. Panel Trap testing in July of this year detected the insect in a rural area in northern Sullivan County, west of U.S. Highway 41 near Turman Creek. The other came just last month south of Farmersburg.
Just a handful of southern Indiana counties remain without positive tests. They include Knox, Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh and Vermillion Counties.
As a result of the quarantine, the movement of certain materials such as whole ash trees, ash limbs, untreated ash lumber with the bark attached and cut firewood of any hardwood species with the bark attached is restricted according to the IDNR. Which means visitors to DNR properties may only bring in firewood if it is certified by the USDA or DNR Division of Entomology & Plant Pathology, or is free of bark.
Emerald Ash Borer is not limited to state properties. Homeowners should be watchful for the pest according to both the DNR and Purdue University.
The Purdue Extension Service offers several guides to detecting the EAB and what to do if a tree on your property is infested on their website dedicated to information about the insect.
Among the signs of Emerald Ash Borer are a dieback of leaves that begins in the upper third of the tree and progresses downward over time, vertical splits in the tree's bark, D-shaped exit holes that are only an eighth of an inch wide found in the tree's bark on the limbs and trunk -- the result of the emergence of newly formed adults, and S-shaped channels found under the tree's bark which is caused by larvae feeding.
Other indicators of EAB infestation could be heavy woodpecker activity that is especially noticeable during the winter months, water sprouts that appear at the tree's trunk and worm-like larvae that can be found under the tree's bark. The larvae can grow up to one inch long.
For more information on EAB, or to report an infestation, visit eabindiana.info or call Indiana DNR's toll free hotline at 1-866-663-9684. To view the EAB Rule and EAB quarantine declaration issued by Indiana Governor Mike Pence earlier this year visit dnr.IN.gov/entomolo/3443.htm.
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