BROOKINGS, S.D. (KELO) — The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), an invasive beetle that preys on and kills ash trees, has been identified in Brookings, South Dakota. Now the City of Brookings is preparing to lay out their plan to manage the pest.
The city will hold a meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. at the McCrory Gardens Education and Visitor Center in Brookings, offering the public the opportunity to hear from the city and EAB experts, and to ask questions.
KELOLAND News spoke with SDSU Extension forestry specialist John Ball, who will be speaking at the meeting. He said the presence of the EAB in Brookings County is not a shock, and while it was only recently detected, he says the problem with EAB infestation is that it is “always worse than what you think.”
This, said Ball, is because trees in their first and sometimes even second year of infestation may not show any damage.
Ball predicted the EAB had been in Brookings from at least three years, and estimated the level of infestation in the city is likely somewhere in the teens in terms of the percentage of ash trees currently infected.
Brookings has been proactive over the years though, said Ball, joining other communities such as Dakota Dunes and Aberdeen, who have been working for a number of years to reduce and replace their ash tree population.
Fifteen years ago, Ball said a sample was done to determine the average ash tree population in the state, with the result coming back that at the time, about 1/3 of the state’s street trees were ash.
Brookings, Ball says, has been successful in paring down its ash population, and he currently estimates the population in Brookings as in the low 20%s.
At the Thursday meeting, the city will be able to identify some areas in which the EAB has been positively identified.
Even if the EAB has not been found yet in your particular area of town, Ball says people should not wait to begin treatments.
These treatments are effective in covering your ash, and can still be applied after the EAB has been found in a tree. Ball mentioned trees in the Detroit, Michigan area he has seen living now around 20 after beginning treatments.
Overall, Ball says the EAB is in South Dakota long-term, and it will continue to spread. Treatment of trees and the removal of untreated trees can help slow the spread of the pest, as can quarantines, but it will indeed spread. The EAB, according to Ball, can fly up to 15 miles if it needs to.
With the discovery of the EAB, Brookings County becomes the 4th county in South Dakota to host the pest, along with Union, Lincoln and Minnehaha Counties.
The EAB has been found in Dakota Dunes, Canton, Lennox, Worthing, Sioux Falls, Brandon, Crooks, Baltic and Brookings, according to the South Dakota Dept. of Ag and Natural Resources.
