Additional detections of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) have been made in New York State this week. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) announced that additional detections were made in Steuben (Town of Bath) and Ulster (Town of Saugerties) Counties.
Here is a description of the finds from the official NYSDEC press release:
The Steuben County discovery occurred on July 12 when a state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) staff member inspected one of the state’s EAB purple traps. The traps are sticky and contain a chemical lure that attracts adult EAB. The detection was confirmed this week by Cornell University. The Ulster County discovery occurred on July 15 when a USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) staff member checked a federally-deployed EAB trap and the specimen has since been confirmed by APHIS. Each EAB trap had one confirmed EAB specimen.
Here is what NYS officials plan in response to this latest EAB find:
A cooperative effort among USDA, New York State, Cornell and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry will conduct a thorough delimiting survey of trees to assess the extent of beetles in both areas. Information from this survey will help determine the response strategy.
The New York Invasive Species Council and DEC’s Office of Invasive Species Coordination were established in 2007 to help detect new invasive species outbreaks and rapidly respond to such incidents. Further follow-up to slow the spread of this very destructive forest insect will depend on funding made available. New York is working with state and federal legislators and agencies to inform them of the recent finds and the urgent need to identify additional funding sources to address these new occurrences.
Read the full NYSDEC press release and for additional information on EAB you can visit http://www.emeraldashborer.info/.