Emerald ash borer confirmed in four more North Texas counties – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

After being found last month in Dallas' Great Trinity Forest, the invasive ash borer has now been confirmed in four other North Texas counties.

The Texas A&M Forest Service confirmed Monday that the USDA Department of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has confirmed all beetle samples collected in May in Collin, Franklin, Johnson and Red River counties as the emerald ash borer.

The non-native small green beetle devastates populations of ash trees, boring into the bark where it lays eggs. The beetle larvae eventually feed on the water-conducting tissue of the tree, causing the tree to slowly die.

Just last month, the beetle was found in Grayson, Hill, Hood, McLennan and Palo Pinto counties.

“The continued spread of EAB is a significant concern for our ash population,” said Allen Smith, regional forest health coordinator for the Texas A&M Forest Service.EAB has the potential to wipe out ash as a genus in North America, meaning there will be no ash trees left.”

Once the presence of EAB is confirmed in a province, Texas Department of Agriculture steps in and imposes a quarantine which prevents the movement of woody ash material abroad, although it can be transported to other provinces that are also under quarantine.

“Because EAB is inadvertently transported via firewood and wood products, quarantine helps slow the spread of the beetle by limiting the movement of wood in and out of affected areas,” said Demian Gomez, regional forest health coordinator for the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Dallas, Denton, Parker and Tarrant counties, all areas where the beetle has also been confirmed, are under the same quarantine.

The Texas A&M Forest Service says that both healthy and stressed trees of all ash species are vulnerable to EAB attack and have no natural resistance to the pest. Most trees will die within two to five years of infestation and without proper proactive measures, mortality in areas can be 100%, so early detection is essential.

“There is no known way to stop the spread of EAB,” Gomez said. “But communities can minimize loss, diversify their tree species, and increase the health and resilience of urban forests.”

The beetle may have been the first discovered in North Texas in 2018 by a 10-year-old boy from Tarrant County who took a photo of the insect because he thought it looked “really weird.” The boy uploaded the photo to an online database for naturalists, where scientists in other states and countries eventually discovered it and identified it as a possible emerald ash borer. Experts from the Texas A&M Forest Service were notified and examined the boy's findings. EAB was first discovered in Texas in 2016 in Harrison County (between Longview, TX and Shreveport, LA)

WHAT IS AN EMERALD ASH BOORER?

The emerald green ash borer is a small beetle, green in color and smaller than a penny.

The beetle bores into the bark of the tree and lays eggs. Larvae feed on water-conducting tissue and eventually kill the tree.

Officials say the insect has been found in more than half of the United States and has killed millions of ash trees.

“Both healthy and unhealthy ash trees are susceptible to EAB attack and can die within two to three years of infestation,” Allen Smith, regional forest health coordinator for the Texas A&M Forest Service, said in a May 2022 interview with NBC 5. “Ash trees have no natural resistance to the exotic insect. Without proper proactive measures, mortality can be 100 percent in heavily infested areas, so early detection could increase our chances of controlling the pest.”

Ash trees with low EAB often have few, if any, external symptoms of infestation. However, residents can look for signs of EAB among their ash trees, including dead branches near the top of the tree, leafy shoots sprouting from the trunk, bark cracks exposing S-shaped larval galleries, extensive woodpecker activity, and D-shaped exit holes.

The beetle was first discovered in North America in 2002 in Michigan. Since then, it has spread to at least 36 states and killed millions of ash trees.

To report the emerald ash borer, call the EAB helpline at 1-866-322-4512.

Texas A&M Forest Service