BAD BEETLES

The invasive and destructive Emerald Ash Borer beetle is moving to Springfield, prompting the Illinois Department of Agriculture to add Sangamon County to a quarantine zone meant to stop the beetle’s spread. The beetle comes from Russia and parts of Asia, and it devastates ash tree populations – as many as 250 million trees in the U.S. since 2002. The Department of Ag monitors traps around the state, and a trap located on Reynolds Street near Douglas Park in Springfield recently turned up a beetle. Sangamon is one of 14 new counties in which the EAB has been found this year, meaning the county will have to be added to the existing quarantine zone. Transporting firewood out of the existing 49-county quarantine zone is prohibited because it can help spread the metallic green bug. An infestation is hard to detect in its early stages, but look for thinning and yellowing leaves, D-shaped holes in the bark of the trunk or branches and basal shoots. For more information, or to report an infestation, visit www.illinoiseab.com.