Morton Arboretum staff discovers EAB

Staff at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Ill., discovered emerald ash borer (EAB) in four trap trees this month. State officials later verified the finds. The trees were at three arboretum locations, all in non-public areas.

 

But the EAB discovery is no surprise.

“We’ve been expecting to find EAB here and are fully prepared for it,” said Kris Bachtell, arboretum vice president of collections and facilities, who noted that EAB had earlier been found in several communities surrounding the Lisle tree museum.

 

EAB has killed tens of millions of ash trees in the United States and Canada. There are an estimated 130 million ash trees in Illinois, and the arboretum has approximately 9,000 ash among its hundreds of thousands of trees and other plants.

 

The arboretum removed its infested trees, and staff will continue to monitor for any additional signs of the insect. Also, the arboretum has been reproducing almost three dozen ash trees considered to be of high value because of their genetic rarity or other factors, growing the specimens in arboretum nurseries to safeguard them from EAB.

 

The arboretum conducts laboratory tests to see which types of Asian and European ash are less susceptible to EAB. Ultimately, experts may create a hybrid of a North American and a non-native ash with superior ability to survive an EAB infestation.

 

Researchers at Michigan State University and the USDA’s Northern Experiment Station in Wooster, Ohio also conduct EAB-related tests using plants from arboretum collecting expeditions to Asia.