Emerald ash borer fight continues

By Dana Rieck

Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

A Colorado interagency team is working this winter to detect and manage the emerald ash borer, a tree-killing pest.

Currently, Boulder County is the only area in the state that has been quarantined because of infestation.

"The pest is under federal and state quarantine," said Laura Pottorff, Colorado Department of Agriculture's quarantine program manager. "So basically what this means is that we do not want any material that could harbor the pest, in this case it's ash wood, to leave the Boulder County boundary."

The county boundary, she said, is the smallest area that the interagency can quarantine to follow federal regulations; landfills in Erie and Jefferson County have been included in this quarantine, as they are the only landfills in that area.

The pest tunnels into the tree's conductive tissue as larva, then creates distinctive one-eighth-inch D-shaped holes in the ash tree's bark once they emerge as adults.

While there are treatment options for an infested tree, the interagency gropu emphasizes that each treatment option is totally up to the tree owner, but none will ever permanently rid the tree of the pest.

"What we are emphasizing to the public is weighing options is it worth saving?" said Ryan Lockwood, public and media relations coordinator for Colorado State Forest Service. "You can choose tree removal, planting new trees or chemically treating the tree."

Pottorff says that it is totally fine to do nothing to the tree and let it die on its own, the removal process simply needs to ensure the pest will not spread to other wood.

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Emerald ash borer fight continues