The tree killing emerald ash borer has been found in five more Wisconsin counties, bringing the statewide total to 46.
According to a Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection news release, the new counties are Chippewa, Green Lake, Marinette, Waupaca and Waushara.
The Chippewa County infestation was discovered by a homeowner on private property where trees were dying. The other four were finds in monitoring traps set by the USDA-APHIS and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“These new finds fill in the map for the southern two-thirds of the state, and add to the checkerboard of quarantined counties in the north,” said Brian Kuhn, Plant Industry Bureau Director with DATCP.
For private citizens, the quarantine means that they cannot take firewood from quarantined counties to non-quarantined counties. For businesses handling wood products that could carry EAB, it means that they must work with DATCP to assure that their products are pest-free before shipping.