List/Grid Tag Archives: counties

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Traps set to monitor the movement of the emerald ash borer have detected the tree-killing beetle in two additional Illinois counties.  The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) today announced infestations have been confirmed in DeWitt and Stark counties.  Both detections occurred in rural areas.  In DeWitt County, the beetle was discovered between Clinton Lake and the McLean County border.  In Stark, it was trapped near Toulon.  “The nearly five thousand traps that were placed throughout the state have been carefully examined,” Warren Goetsch, IDOA bureau chief of Environmental Programs, said.  “Including these two finds, they detected the emerald ash borer in four new counties, bringing the number of counties with known infestations to 22.”  The emerald ash borer is a small, metallic-green beetle native to Asia.  Its larvae burrow into the bark of ash trees, causing the trees to starve and eventually die.  While the beetle does not pose any direct risk to public health, it does threaten the ash tree canopy.  Currently, 25 counties in the northeastern and central part of the state are under quarantine to slow the spread of the beetle.  The quarantine prohibits the intrastate movement of potentially-contaminated wood products, including ash trees, limbs and branches and all types of firewood.  However, neither DeWitt nor Stark County is within those quarantine boundaries.