Wisconsin Ag Connection - EAB Quarantine Officially Becomes Statewide

Wisconsin Ag News Headlines

EAB Quarantine Officially Becomes Statewide
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 03/22/2018

State agriculture officials have decided to place the entire state of Wisconsin under quarantine for the tree-chewing Emerald Ash Borer. On Wednesday, the Department of Agriculture announced that a statewide quarantine is warranted since the EAB has been discovered in 48 of the state's 72 counties. The move takes effect on March 30.

"The county-by-county quarantines have helped slow the spread of EAB over the past decade," said DATCP Plant Bureau Director Brian Kuhn. "They gave communities time to plan and spread the costs of removing and replacing trees on a schedule ahead of the infestation."

So far, the pest been found in all of the counties in the southern half of the state, and seven northern counties. All but two counties are either under quarantine or adjacent to a quarantined county in the state or a neighboring state, Kuhn said.

Quarantines require businesses handling ash wood, untreated ash products and hardwood firewood to sign agreements specifying how they will reduce the risk of moving EAB into non-quarantined areas, and prohibit moving firewood from quarantined areas to non-quarantined areas.

The statewide quarantine means wood can move freely between counties within Wisconsin. But businesses that move regulated items out of state will need to work with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to confirm interstate requirements.

Meanwhile, firewood restrictions will remain on state and federal lands. Kuhn recommended that campers and other tourists buy wood near the campgrounds or cabins where they intend to burn it, or that they buy firewood that bears the DATCP-certified mark, meaning it has been seasoned or heat-treated to kill pests.

Other Wisconsin Headlines