Emerald Ash Borer has found its way into another Northwoods County.
The Department of Natural Resources detected the invasive species in Tomahawk and the Town of Harrison in Lincoln County.
Emerald Ash Borer has slowly been making its way north over the last 14 years.
The tiny green beetle burrows its way into ash trees taking years to kill them.
It’s now in 62 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.
Lincoln County is the latest one to be added to the list.
In our region, that leaves only Vilas and Forest counties without any known cases of EAB showing up in ash trees.
But DNR Forest Health Specialist Linda Williams says it’s only a matter of time before it shows up there too.
“Unfortunately, it is inevitable that it will get everywhere eventually. It just depends on how much time we got, you know whether we move it quickly and introduce it to areas accidently, but it gets there a lot faster or if we take some steps to slow down that progression,” said Williams.
Despite the inevitable, Williams say people can help slow its spread.
Things like not moving firewood and even chemical treatments to prevent ash trees on your property from getting infected can go a long way.
Williams also wanted to emphasize, while we’re starting to see more cases of EAB up here, it’s not nearly as widespread as southern Wisconsin.
You’d notice if it was.
“We do see a fair amount of ash in areas of northern Wisconsin and it will have a big impact when it gets here. Those low areas where black ash tends to grow, it’s going to be very dramatic,” said Williams. “Sometimes in those low areas, black ash is the only thing that’s growing in there. When Emerald Ash Borer shows up and starts to kill it, it’s going to be a pretty dramatic change that people will notice.”
Williams encourages people with forested wood lots to work with a forester to learn about how best to protect ash trees on your property.
