EMERALD ASH BORER FOUND IN THE TOWN OF SHERMAN IN FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 26, 2013

MEDIA CONTACT:
Dr. Kirby C. Stafford III, Ph.D.
Vice Director, Chief Scientist/State Entomologist
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
123 Huntington Street (zip 06511)
P.O. Box 1106
New Haven, CT 06504
Phone: (203) 974-8485

EMERALD ASH BORER FOUND IN THE TOWN OF SHERMAN IN FAIRFIELD COUNTY,
CONNECTICUT

New Haven, CT - The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) announced today that the
emerald ash borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis) has been detected in another Connecticut county –
Fairfield – in the town of Sherman, CT on July 19, 2013. This invasive insect has now been found in two
Connecticut counties and twelve towns. The identification of EAB has been confirmed by the federal
regulatory officials in the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and
Quarantine (USDA-APHIS-PPQ). This new county detection, like that of the initial New Haven County
detection in 2012, was made through the Experiment Station’s Cerceris wasp biosurveillance program.
In Connecticut, a quarantine has previously been established that regulates the movement of ash logs, ash
materials, ash nursery stock, and hardwood firewood from within New Haven County to any area outside
of that county. The New Haven County quarantine mirrors a federal quarantine also imposed on New
Haven County. This Fairfield County detection will result in the expansion of the state and federal
quarantines in Connecticut.

The emerald ash borer is responsible for the death and decline of tens of millions of ash trees and has been
detected in 20 states from Kansas and Michigan to New Hampshire and south to North Carolina. Ash
makes up about 4% to 15% of Connecticut’s forests and is a common urban tree.
In Connecticut, the insects were previously confirmed in Prospect, Naugatuck, Bethany, Beacon Falls,
Waterbury, Cheshire, Oxford, Middlebury, Hamden, North Branford, and Southbury, all in New Haven
County, as part of surveys conducted by CAES, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
(DEEP), the U.S. Forest Service, and the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension via an
agreement with USDA APHIS PPQ in joint efforts to detect the presence of EAB in the state or determine
the extent of the current New Haven County infestation. The Hamden detection was initially reported by
a homeowner. EAB has also been identified in Dutchess County, New York, Berkshire County,
Massachusetts and Merrimack County, New Hampshire.

A single specimen of EAB was recovered in Sherman from the ground-nesting, native wasp (Cerceris
fumipennis), which hunts beetles in the family Buprestidae, including the emerald ash borer. The wasp is
an efficient and effective “biosurveillance” survey tool and does not sting people or pets. In addition, 307
purple prism detection traps have been set across the state, excluding New Haven County, by the
University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System. The EAB surveillance program is supported by
the USDA-APHIS-PPQ.

“This latest detection and those in an expanding area of New Haven County show how invasive this insect
can be - putting more of our ash trees at risk.” said State Entomologist Kirby C. Stafford III. “Not moving
firewood or ash is the best way to help slow the spread of EAB.”

“Now that EAB has been detected in another Connecticut county, it is more important than ever to curb its
spread and the most effective way to do that is preventing the movement of wood products out of affected
areas,” said DEEP Commissioner Daniel C. Esty. “We will continue to work closely with the Connecticut
Agricultural Experiment Station, the Department of Transportation, and other state and local agencies to
put effective strategies in place to limit the spread of EAB and minimize the impact this invasive beetle
has on Connecticut’s ash trees.”

In addition to the established quarantine, regulations are in effect regulating the movement of firewood
from out-of-state into Connecticut or within Connecticut, including the requirement of a permit to bring
out-of-state firewood into Connecticut. These regulations were put in place to ensure that EAB and other
invasive insects are not carried into Connecticut, or spread throughout New England, through the
movement of firewood.

Detailed information about the quarantine, including its expansion, and the firewood regulations can be
found at www.ct.gov/deep/eab or www.ct.gov/caes .

The emerald ash borer is a regulated plant pest under federal (7 CFR 301.53) and state (CT Gen. Statute
Sec. 22-84-5d, e, and f) regulations. For more information about the EAB, please visit the following
website: www.emeraldashborer.info. A fact sheet providing guidelines on the treatment of ash trees to
protect them from EAB is also available at www.ct.gov/caes.