State forestry officials have confirmed new detections of the invasive emerald ash borer in three additional Willamette Valley communities, signaling the continued spread of the tree-killing pest across northwestern Oregon.<\/p>\n
The Oregon Department of Forestry announced that emerald ash borers were recently found in Tualatin, Newberg and Silverton. The insects were detected in ash trees located in two parking lots and at a private residence.<\/p>\n
The discoveries fall within Oregon’s existing emerald ash borer quarantine zone, which includes Clackamas, Marion, Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill counties.<\/p>\n
Under quarantine rules established by the Oregon Department of Agriculture, ash, olive and white fringetree materials must remain within the affected counties. Firewood from any hardwood species is also prohibited from leaving the quarantine area.<\/p>\n
Forestry officials said the new detections were anticipated as the invasive insect continues to spread from previously infested locations.<\/p>\n
“We have long known that EAB would spread from infested sites to nearby areas, so these new detections are not unexpected,” Oregon Department of Forestry Emerald Ash Borer Support Specialist Matt Mills said in a statement. “Experience from other states shows that four to five years or so after first being detected, EAB spreads from pockets of infested ash trees and becomes much more widespread over an entire county or metropolitan area.”<\/p>\n
The emerald ash borer, a metallic green beetle native to Asia, kills ash trees by tunneling beneath the bark and disrupting the tree’s ability to transport water and nutrients.<\/p>\n
Officials said all three recent reports came from residents who recognized signs of infestation and reported them through Oregon’s invasive species hotline.<\/p>\n
Kat Bethea, an emerald ash borer support specialist with the Oregon Department of Forestry, said the reports demonstrate growing public awareness of the pest after several years of outreach efforts.<\/p>\n
“We are thankful that people are paying attention to the health of ash trees around them and letting us know when signs point to a possible EAB infestation,” Bethea said.<\/p>\n
The department has notified local officials in the affected communities and surrounding areas and is encouraging continued monitoring of ash trees for signs of infestation.<\/p>\n
Emerald ash borers were first detected in Oregon in 2022 and officials have warned that the pest could threaten millions of ash trees across the state if its spread continues unchecked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State forestry officials have confirmed new detections of the invasive emerald ash borer in three additional Willamette Valley…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-722928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}