Wisconsin Ag Connection - EAB Confirmed in Wisconsin Rapids

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EAB Confirmed in Wisconsin Rapids
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 05/06/2016

The Emerald ash borer has been confirmed for the first time in Wood County. State agriculture officials say the insect was collected from a boulevard tree in Wisconsin Rapids, where woodpeckers were tearing off bark to get to the larvae beneath it.

This latest EAB finding come less than a month after regulators began proceedings to quarantine the county after the destructive insect was found in neighboring Portage County.

"This will not change anything from a regulatory standpoint," said Brian Kuhn, Plant Industry Bureau Director with DATCP. "We will continue the quarantine process. The insects will continue to spread naturally, but the quarantine can help prevent EAB from leapfrogging to entirely new areas with the help of humans."

EAB has now been found in 37 Wisconsin counties. The pest is native to China and entered the United States over 20 years ago on packing material, showing up first in Michigan. It first appeared in Wisconsin in eight years ago in Washington County.

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