Front Range observed National EAB Awareness Week Email
News
Tuesday, May 26, 2015 05:05 PM


Emerald Ash BorerLast week, residents of several Front Range communities noticed trees in high-traffic public parks or along street rights-of-way encircled with wide bands of green or yellow ribbon that warn of an invasive tree pest.

City parks departments, Colorado Tree Coalition volunteers and others marked more than 450 trees, all of which are ash, to offer a visual example of a mere fraction of the millions of trees in Colorado that could be lost to the invasive, tree-killing emerald ash borer (EAB).

As part of National EAB Awareness Week, May 17-23, the wrap was intended to help people recognize what ash trees look like, and prompt homeowners and other landowners to consider early management options for EAB. These may include removing unhealthy trees before they die and planting new trees near ash that could ultimately replace trees lost to the pest.

The tree wrap offered the simple message “This ash tree is at risk from Emerald Ash Borer” and directed passers-by to eabcolorado.com for more information. Communities participating in the awareness week by wrapping ash trees included Broomfield, Englewood, Erie, Lafayette, Lakewood, Longmont, Louisville and Westminster. Many trees also were wrapped on Boulder County properties and on the University of Colorado main campus, and the county offered EAB information tables at area garden centers.

“The most important thing Front Range communities can do now is exactly what these communities are doing – preparing for emerald ash borer’s arrival by raising EAB awareness, and sharing information about how to identify ash trees and the symptoms of the pest,” said Laura Pottorff, lead representative of the interagency Colorado EAB Response Team*.

EAB, a non-native pest responsible for the death of millions of ash trees in 25 states, was confirmed in the City of Boulder in September 2013. The exotic insect has become a concern for communities all over Colorado because each year it can fly up to a half-mile to infest new trees. There also is the ever-present risk of EAB spreading much faster through human transport of firewood and other raw wood. An estimated 15 percent or more of all urban and community trees in the state are ash (genus Fraxinus).

For more information about ash tree identification, the symptoms of EAB and treatment options, as well as an updated map showing where EAB has been detected in Colorado, go to www.eabcolorado.com.

*The Colorado EAB Response Team is comprised of members from the following agencies/organizations: Boulder County, City of Boulder, Colorado Department of Agriculture, Colorado State Forest Service, Colorado State University Extension, Colorado Tree Coalition, Green Industries of Colorado, University of Colorado and USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

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ALCC introduces the LAB