The City of Bismarck will observe Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week the week of May 21- 27, 2017. This week has been designated as North Dakota’s ‘Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Awareness Week’. City of Bismarck Foresters will be flagging numerous publicly-owned ash trees with green tape to highlight the tree loss that this pest will cause.
Green ash is the most common tree species in most North Dakota communities, representing 35-65% of the urban forest. EAB has not been found in North Dakota, but monitoring efforts continue. Purple prism traps, designed for early detection of EAB, are being placed throughout the state to coincide with the time when adult insects emerge.
Emerald ash borer is an insect pest of ash trees that was imported into the United States in the mid-1990s in packing material. As of May 2, 2013, EAB has been detected in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan (both the upper and lower peninsulas), Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Kansas, New Hampshire, Georgia, North Carolina and Colorado. In Canada, EAB has been detected in Ontario and Quebec. EAB’s rapid long-distance spread has been attributed to human transport of infested firewood, nursery stock or in wood products made with untreated ash wood. The nearest known infestation is in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.