News Release

Statewide Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine Established

The Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive species that attacks and kills ash trees.

David Cappaert, Michigan State University

News Release Date: March 27, 2018

Contact: Adriane Barnes, [phone]

Due to the expanded range of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) infestation sites within Arkansas, the Arkansas Agriculture Department’s State Plant Board (ASPB) has approved a statewide quarantine for ash items as of March 27, 2018. Regulated articles can be moved within the state, but cannot move outside of the state without complying with the federal EAB regulations. Find a map of all statewide Emerald Ash Borer quarantines, here.
The quarantine covers firewood of all hardwood species, and the following ash items: nursery stock; green lumber with bark attached; other material living, dead, cut or fallen including logs, pulpwood, stumps, roots, branches, mulch and composted/un-composted chips (1 inch or greater). Firewood is the only quarantined item that relates to all hardwood; all other quarantined items are relative to ash, only. Quarantined items can move freely within Arkansas.
For further quarantine details, contact the ASPB at 501-225-1598 or email e-mail us. Find EAB fact sheets and resources for identifying the pest, here.
Background
The EAB is an invasive metallic green beetle (1/2 inch in size) from Asia, which attacks and kills all species of ash trees in the United States. It was first discovered in Michigan in 2002 and has since spread throughout much of the midwestern and southern United States. An EAB infestation usually kills the ash host within 2-5 years of infestation. Find identification resources for all five species of ash trees in Arkansas, here.
Trapping for EAB in Arkansas was first initiated in 2010 by the ASPB, the Arkansas Agriculture Department’s Forestry Commission, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), and University of Arkansas at Monticello. EAB was first detected in six counties (Hot Spring, Clark, Dallas, Nevada, Ouachita, and Columbia) in 2014. A quarantine was then enacted for those counties and a buffer zone in the surrounding counties. 
Since then, EAB has been detected in 18 counties, including: Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Columbia, Drew, Dallas, Garland, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Lafayette, Montgomery, Nevada, Ouachita, Pike, Randolph, Union, Cleveland, and Saline.
To help battle the infestation of EAB, many state departments of agriculture including Arkansas are releasing biological control agents/ parasitoids. The parasitoids were produced and supplied from the USDA APHIS PPQ EAB Parasitoids Rearing Facility in Brighton, MI. For parasitoid information please call 866-322-4512. 
The mission of the Arkansas State Plant Board is to protect and serve the citizens of Arkansas and the agricultural and business communities by providing information and unbiased enforcement of laws and regulations thus ensuring quality products and services. The Arkansas State Plant Board is an agency of the Arkansas Agriculture Department.