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County will cut trees to kill destructive bug

Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006

The detection of tree eating bugs in Maryland in August has put the lives of many Ash trees in Prince George’s County in jeopardy.

To eradicate the bugs, the Emerald Ash Borer, the state and the federal government in August prohibited anyone from moving ash trees, products or any hardwood firewood into or out of the Prince George’s County until further notice. The state plans to cut an estimated 8,000 to 9,000 trees in the county starting in December through March.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture discovered the infested area south of the Capital Beltway and Pennsylvania Avenue.

In 2003, the same area was discovered to have emerald ash borer-infested trees. The state looked eliminate the trees but seems to not have destroyed the pests in the area, which was quarantined in March of 2004.

The MDA confirmed that a new Emerald Ash Borer was detected in a homeowner’s ash tree in the Brandywine area on Oct. 18.

‘‘We are grateful for the cooperation of homeowners and citizens in Prince George’s County to help us control and eradicate this destructive pest,” said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Lewis R. Riley. ‘‘We are working together with our federal, state and local partners, but we rely upon the cooperation from the community to follow the quarantine restrictions to report signs of possible infestation.”

The bug originates from Asia, taking the nutrients from a tree and killing it within a year or two, said Chris Holmgren, owner of Seneca Creek Joinery in Dickerson.

The telltale signs of an infected ash tree are small D-shaped exit holes (which is created by eggs laid in the bark where the adult bugs emerge) vertical cuts in the bark of the tree and serpentine-shaped tunnels beneath the bark where the larvae prohibits nutrients and water flow to the tree.

‘‘The county is prohibiting ash logs and or any kind of hardwood firewood from being transported between county lines,” said Greenbelt forester Bill Phalan. ‘‘If this were to ever spread it can become a real disaster.”

Measures to prevent the spread of the bug include halting transportation of firewood — hauling firewood is the most common way the pests spread — and not planting trees south of Route 4 in Prince George’s County.

Also the county is urging people to report any signs of Emerald Ash Borer to the University of Maryland Home and Garden Information Center.

The center can be reached at 1-800-342-2507.

Presently only four other states have detected of emerald ash borer. They are Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.

‘‘This is a fluid thing. It’s a state by state concern,” Holmgren said, ‘‘The county is slowing the process of the insect down.”

The MDA reported that more than 20 million ash trees have died in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana since 2002.

‘‘If this insect becomes established we will lose every ash tree in the county,” Phalan said.

Ash trees are the most common landscaping trees used in the United States and are distinctive in western Maryland forests.

E-mail Marcus Ngbea at mngbea@gazette.net.