By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent

WARSAW, Ind. — Emerald Ash Borer, known in the lumber industry as EAB and to residents of the Midwest as the green menace that delights in killing ash trees, has moved into Kosciusko County, Ind., much the same way it first arrived in the United States – by hitchhiking.

“I’d be willing to bet it was brought into Kosciusko County by a camper hauling firewood from a quarantined area,” said Paul Branch, who heads the timber department at Pike Lumber Co.’s Akron production site.

He’s probably right. EAB can fly but seldom does so for more than half a mile per year. Instead, the travel-happy metallic green insect hitches rides in the trunks or truck beds of unsuspecting campers intent on supplying their own firewood. This means the little beetle can travel several hundred miles a day.

Once in a campsite, it quickly invades nearby ash trees, which in Indiana include white, green and black species. Other states have pumpkin and blue ash. Mountain ash, however, is seldom affected, primarily because it is not considered a true ash.

“So far, we’ve been successful in keeping it out of Fulton County,” Branch said, “but I’m not certain how much longer we’ll be able to say that. EAB was already in Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Elkhart, Hamilton, Huntington, LaGrange, Marion, Noble, Porter, Randolph, St. Joseph, Steuben, Wabash, Wells, White and Whitley counties.
“Now, with it in Kosciusko County, it’s inching closer and closer.” (The corporate limits of Akron are on the Kosciusko County line.)

Until 2002, EAB was never found outside Asia, where it makes its home in China, Korea, Russia, Japan and Mongolia – but isn’t considered a major pest. Researchers believe the insect decided to look for greener forests by stowing away in wooden packing materials of containers headed for Detroit.

Ever since, it has hitchhiked its way through much of lower Michigan toward Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Maryland and Ontario, Canada, leaving millions of ash trees dead.

Life cycle

Ash is a valuable resource used in millwork, flooring, pallets, the handles of shovels, forks and scythes and for such specialty items as baseball bats, oars, polo and hockey sticks and nightsticks.
 “We’ll continue harvesting ash,” Branch said, “but we will be unable to transport any of it to the Akron sawmill from quarantined areas until September. After that, we’ll be able to bring it in until April.
“We have compliance agreements with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the USDA that call for a full accounting of the ash logs we transport.”

The pesky insect has a short life cycle – a year or two years at most. Adults lay eggs on ash bark from mid-May until mid-August; the eggs hatch into larvae and tunnel into the tree from May to August; and larvae feed under the bark from August to October, creating S-shaped galleries that eventually girdle and kill branches and entire trees.

The adults emerge from May to June, leaving D-shaped exit holes. The “D” could well represent “death” because that will be the tree’s fate. Ironically, once the beetle has emerged, it normally lives for about three weeks, usually until around mid-August.

EAB’S movement

EAB’S method of operation is often difficult to detect. For one thing, an adult EAB is less than 0.5 inch in length and is camouflaged by its natural green color, which allows it to feed undetected on ash foliage. Its larvae, however, prefer to feed in the cambium between the bark and wood, producing unseen galleries that eventually girdle and kill branches and entire trees.

Jagged holes excavated by woodpeckers feeding on prepupal larvae may be the first sign that a tree is infested. Kosciusko County’s EAB infestation was detected by use of a purple panel trap such as the ones that dot many Indiana forests containing ash populations.

Purple because the beetles are attracted to that color, the traps – part of a detection survey sponsored by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Indiana DNR – are lined with glue and baited with manuka oil, an import from New Zealand that approximates the aroma of an ash tree. The traps attract existing EABs as well as other insects, but do not draw new EABs to the tree. The pesky hitchhikers prefer to let man – their greatest enemy and unwitting best friend – transport them to new areas.

Getting rid of the menace

Eradicating the nation of the alien menace will not be an easy task, according to foresters and the USDA. Purdue University researchers have started releasing wasps imported from China to see if the wasps, which reportedly have no stingers and are not aggressive toward humans, will lay their eggs into ash borer’s eggs. The hypothesis is that as the wasps develop, they will kill the EAB eggs.
In addition, research continues to attempt to understand the beetles’ life cycle and to find ways to control them. It can’t come too soon, according to the city of Fort Wayne in quarantined Allen County, where officials estimate it could cost $3 million over 15 years to protect its thousands of ash trees.

In the meantime, the best method of control is vigilance. That means no free rides for EABs and other harmful insects. Campers should purchase firewood at their destination rather than taking it with them. When buying firewood, they should look for wood without bark or that has been aged for at least two years or has been kiln-dried.

Campers should also be aware of quarantines and problems with pests and diseases in their home or visited areas. They should refuse to take local pests to other states. Firewood from one state may contain problems that don’t exist in other states.

Finally, residents should watch neighborhood ash trees for any sign of EAB. Hoosiers finding signs should contact Purdue University, the DNR or the USDA.