Revises EAB Quarantine to include Houghton and Keweenaw Counties in the U.P.

For Immediate Release: September 11, 2008
Contact: James Bowes, 517-373-1085
Michigan Revises EAB Quarantine to include Houghton and Keweenaw Counties in the U.P.
LANSING - Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) today announced an amendment to the state’s Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) interior quarantine to help prevent the further spread of the exotic insect in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.).
Effective immediately, Michigan’s EAB interior quarantine has been revised to include all of Houghton and Keweenaw counties in the U.P. In August 2008, an EAB infestation was discovered near the Village of Laurium in Houghton County.
"Michigan’s natural resources continue to be at risk," said Ken Rauscher, MDA’s Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Division Director.
"Over the past several weeks, MDA staff, including EAB response partners, has conducted surveys around the Laurium site to determine the extent of the infestation. The current quarantine revision continues to prohibit the movement of ash material or hardwood firewood from quarantined areas in the U.P. or from the Lower Peninsula."
The Houghton County quarantine is divided into two levels: the City of Hancock and the townships of Calumet, Franklin, Hancock, Osceola, Quincy, Schoolcraft, and Torch Lake are quarantine Level II; and the remaining portions of Houghton County are quarantine Level III.
Keweenaw County is designated as quarantine Level III due to its geographic location to the EAB infestation in Houghton County. The movement of hardwood firewood and other regulated articles out of quarantine Level II and III areas of the U.P. is prohibited except regulated articles may move from Level III into Level II areas.
EAB is an exotic insect native to Asia that attacks ash trees. In its larval stage, EAB feeds undetected under the bark of ash trees, disrupting water and nutrient flow - ultimately killing the trees in three to four years. First discovered in 2002, the borer is responsible for the death or damage of approximately 25 million ash trees in the Lower Peninsula.
The movement of hardwood firewood is still prohibited from leaving the Lower Peninsula as it is the leading cause of spreading EAB. The inspection station at the Mackinac Bridge will also continue to prevent hardwood firewood and other regulated ash material from entering the Upper Peninsula.
Individuals or businesses found violating the state’s EAB quarantine are subject to fines ranging from $1,000 to $250,000 and jail time of up to five years for moving regulated ash materials, including firewood.
Additional information about EAB, quarantine details and a map of the quarantine boundaries are available at http://www.blogger.com/www.michigan.gov/eab or http://www.blogger.com/www.emeraldashborer.info.
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Robin M. Usborne
Communications Manager
Michigan State University
312 Agriculture Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824
ph: 517-432-1555 x 169
fax: 517-355-1804
http://www.blogger.com/www.emeraldashborer.info

Pest Alert: Euonymous scale

Adult females are about 1-2 mm –grey-brown in color, and oystershell in shape. Adult males are smaller, elongate, and white. Crawlers are yellowish-orange and difficult to see clearly without a magnifying lens. Infestations are first visible as yellowish-white spots on the leaves, and heavy infestations can cause a whitewashed appearance on the plant.

All varieties of Euonymous (including Burning Bush, Wintercreeper, and the Variegated Eounymous bushes) are attacked by this insect. Other known hosts are hollies, camellias, privets, honeysuckle, and others. Damage is caused to the plant by piercing-sucking mouth parts of crawlers (nymphs) and adults, and often infest heavily enough to cause leaf drop. Continuous leaf drop leads to the death of the plant.

Fertilized adults will overwinter on the stems, eggs beneath the female shell hatch over several weeks (usually late May-early June) and nymphs disperse by crawling or being blown in the wind. They mature in about 6 weeks, adults produce eggs again, and the second generation crawlers appear in late July-mid August.

Control is best when applied during the crawler stages. Prune and destroy heavily infested plant parts, or remove the entire plant (including roots).

There is also a Winged Euonymous scale which are darker in color, and more closely resemble the oystershell scale. This scale can be found more commonly on E. alatus, E. fortunei, Pachysandra, Salix and Cornus; and had been found attacking the same plants as the Euonymous scale, making identification and control more challenging.