Slow down the spread (05/25/07)

Will the emerald ash borer make an appearance in Jay County?

It's only a matter of time.

In fact, with reports of the damaging beetle in Randolph, Adams, and Mercer counties, there's a good chance it's already here but hasn't been discovered yet.

The borer can be devastating for ash trees, and Jay County has an abundance of those. Wooded areas that are still bouncing back from the 2005 ice storm will take a serious hit.

So what can be done about it now that the pest is on our doorstep?

Purdue Extension officials point to preventive steps that can be taken to protect individual trees on your property by pouring chemical around the base of an ash tree annually.

But the most important step we can take is to stop the spread of the ash borer by not transporting firewood.

Folks heading out for a family cookout over Memorial Day weekend shouldn't be taking firewood with them. That seemingly innocuous act is how the ash borer has been transported from county to county and from state to state over the past several years.

That's especially true in counties where the destructive pest has already been spotted, but it's true for places like Jay County as well.

It may, in fact, be too late to do much to minimize the damage that lies ahead for Jay County's ash trees.

The ash tree in your backyard may be saved, but in rural woodlots where ash trees are plentiful, protection may not be economically feasible.

But with a little foresight and a minimal change in behavior, it ought to be possible to slow the ash borer's spread. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]