NEWS RELEASE Ohio Department of Agriculture
Governor Ted Strickland Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher Director Robert J. Boggs Communications Office 8995 East Main Street • Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068 Phone: 614-752-9817 • Fax 614-466-7754 ODA home page: www.ohioagriculture.gov • e-mail: agri@mail.agri.state.oh.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ohio Ag Department Rolls Out Tools for Emerald Ash Borer Education
New Web site feature and listserv promote consumer and industry compliance

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio (Feb. 22, 2007) – The Ohio Department of Agriculture today launched a new Web site page and listserv, promoting businesses and practices compliant with Ohio’s Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) quarantine and the state’s efforts to slow the spread of the ash tree-killing insect. The new tools aim to build consumer and industry awareness and a more thorough understanding of the state’s quarantine.

“With an ever-changing program, we are striving to provide Ohioans with the latest information so they can do their part,” said Ohio Agriculture Director Robert Boggs. “Emerald Ash Borer remains a statewide issue, and these tools will better enable consumers and industry to join in the cooperative efforts to protect our valued landscapes and hardwood forests.”

The Web page, www.ohioagriculture.gov/eab/plnt-eab-compliance.stm, features a new fact sheet outlining compliance agreement stipulations for businesses interested in marketing and transporting ash trees or firewood out of quarantined areas. These department-approved agreements specify handling practices that mitigate the spread of EAB. The Web page also provides consumers a listing of Ohio’s compliant companies.

In addition, the department has launched a new e-mail listserv to provide citizens with the latest information regarding Ohio’s EAB program. Using this tool, department officials will more efficiently provide consumers with quarantine changes, new EAB discoveries, the latest research information, program updates, and other regulatory information. To sign up for the electronic listserv, contact the department at 1-888-OHIO-EAB.

Since it was first discovered in Ohio in 2003, EAB has been identified in 26 counties: Auglaize, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Defiance, Erie, Franklin, Fulton, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Huron, Logan, Lorain, Lucas, Marion, Medina, Mercer, Miami, Sandusky, Seneca, Ottawa, Paulding, Warren, Williams, Wood, and Wyandot counties. All or parts of these counties have been quarantined to stop the movement of ash trees, parts of ash trees, and hardwood firewood, which can harbor the EAB.

Ash trees infested with EAB typically die within five years. The pest belongs to a group of metallic wood-boring beetles. Adults are dark green, one-half inch in length and one-eighth inch wide, and fly only from early May until September. Larvae spend the rest of the year beneath the bark of ash trees, and when they emerge as adults, leave D-shaped exit holes in the bark about one-eighth inch wide.