The week of May 20–26, 2012, has been proclaimed by Governor Jack Dalrymple, as North Dakota’s Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Awareness Week. City of Bismarck Foresters will be placing informational flyers on publicly-owned ash trees at Igoe Park, located at Tyler Parkway & El Rancho Road, Monday, May 21, to highlight the tree loss that this pest will cause. Informational posters discussing the threat of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) to Bismarck’s Ash population and the beneficial impact trees have on our city will be hung throughout Igoe Park. Communities around the state are planning events to increase public awareness of the impact that this destructive pest will have on North Dakota’s urban forests. The North Dakota Forest Service and North Dakota Department of Agriculture have also secured a Governor’s Proclamation recognizing the awareness efforts.

Green ash is the most common tree species in most North Dakota communities, representing approximately 45% of the urban forest. EAB has not been found in North Dakota, but has been found in neighboring Minnesota with discoveries in St. Paul in 2009 and Minneapolis in 2010. North Dakota could be next.

Emerald ash borer is an insect pest of ash trees that was imported into the United States in the mid-1990s in packing material. Since EAB was first identified in the Detroit, Michigan, area in 2002, the insect has spread to 15 states. EAB’s rapid long-distance spread has been attributed to human transport of infested firewood, nursery stock or in wood products made with untreated ash wood.

EAB Awareness Week has been organized by the ND EAB Response Committee, with cooperators from the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, North Dakota Forest Service, NDSU Extension Service, North Dakota Urban and Community Forestry Association and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), with funding from the USDA Forest Service. For more information on EAB and to view the City of Bismarck Emerald Ash Bohrer Plan, go to www.bismarck.org/forestry or http://www.nd.gov/ndda/pest/emerald-ash-borer-eab or contact Jackson Bird, Bismarck City Forester, at 701-355-1733.