Emerald Ash Borer in Burlington, IA

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

This is the second site in Iowa to report this pest.  It is too late to do anything this year, but if you are within 15 miles of an infected site you can do something next spring.  See how.

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/emerald-ash-borer-confirmed-des-moines-county-iowa?utm_sour...

[k-289]

Very unfortunate situation ---

[Soyfarmer]

They have been in eastern Ontario for several years and I hate yo say it but without introducing a natural pest you won't stop them. We spotted them in our ash bushes before the ministry and with so much ash in Ontario you would have to do such mass spraying (injection) every year and it was cost prohibitive as well as other issues. It would have been possible to save some street trees however.

[Shaggy98]

I've always said, as sad as it may sound, all the forest fires we have had the last several years was natures own way of taking the forests back from these beetles.

[Blacksandfarmer]

Jim, about 4 years ago my wife and I purchased an 80 acre farm. It has a 12 acre woods. The woods had many mature walnut trees in it. We marked 10 walnut trees to be logged. While the loggers were taking out the walnut trees, they offered me $100 a tree for our ash trees. They told me the live ash trees we had would eventually get Emerald Ash Borer and die. I was afraid of getting taken advantage of and hoped the ash trees we had would survive, so we didn't have the ash trees cut.... Well, years later we are cutting up the ash trees to sell as firewood now that they are all dead. Once you start getting the ash borers its too late. 

[Shaggy98]

Sounds bad of me to say, but all the forest fires we've had the last few years was natures way of dealing with these insects on their own.

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

Now it's been found in Fairfield.  It's moving fast.  Could be at my farm alreeady, or next year at the latest.