Emerald Ash Borer An Expensive Challenge In Small Towns
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - On a warm spring night, Anoka County homeowners are indoors, spending an evening learning about an insect that's invading their property.
"We've got 5 full-grown ash trees," Jeff Kieffer said.
Kieffer and his wife, Rhonda, are among those concerned after Emerald Ash Borer was discovered in Ham Lake in March.
"It's ironic that when we moved out here we planted ash trees, because at the time there was oak wilt, Dutch Elm, and they said, 'Plant ash trees,'" Kieffer said.
It's a problem affecting more and more Minnesota homeowners since it was discovered in St. Paul six years ago.
Now eight Minnesota counties have it.
There are approximately 1 billion ash trees in the state of Minnesota, that's more than any other state in the nation.
That makes us more susceptible to EAB and puts small towns more at risk.
EAB has traveled east and was recently found in the small town of Rushford in Fillmore County.
Mark Abrahamson is an entomologist with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
"I think it's a big deal for a smaller city," Abrahamson said. "Because maybe they don't have resources to deal with forestry as a big city does. It's kind of a shock to the system, perhaps, to now have this big problem to your trees to deal with."
He said Fillmore County is now under quarantine, meaning you can be fined if you transport firewood out of the county.
Abrahamson said it's a tactic used to slow down the spread.
"It's a challenge you want to take head-on," he said. "It's not a problem you want to take you."
Abrahamson said there are treatments for ash borer larvae, but it is expensive.
He said the biggest way to prevent the spread is to burn firewood where you buy it.