The emerald ash borer has been found in three trees in the Calumet Country Club area in Homewood.

Glenview, Illinois officials confirmed the first case of emerald ash borer in the suburb Monday.
The metallic-green pest was detected in a tree at the far eastern edge of Glenview during inspections of the 5,251 ash trees on village property.

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The Illinois Department of Agriculture on Thursday confirmed the presence of the emerald ash borer in Country Club Hills, according to a news release issued by the city.

Six trees near Interstate 80 on the north side of Country Club Hills were inspected, and a positive field confirmation was determined. Ash trees in poor condition on city property will be removed. Other trees in the city are being inspected.

The emerald ash borer is a slender, bright green beetle that destroys ash trees. It takes many years before the tree shows signs of being infested after the beetle deposits eggs on the surface or cracks in ash tree bark. The eggs hatch to release larvae that feed on the tree; as they grow, they slowly kill the tree.

The city has nearly 1,200 ash trees planted on rights-of-way and public properties, approximately 32 percent of the city's trees, city spokeswoman Wanda Comein said.

Because of a Michigan infestation in 2002, the city has not planted green ash trees and has implemented a tree planting plan to include a wide diversity of tree species. The city also started an ash reduction program to further control the spread of the pest, according to Comein.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDA) confirmed today that the emerald ash borer has taken up residence in the City of Geneva.

An arborist employed by Hendrickson's Care of Trees Tree Company discovered the EAB infestation while responding to a residential call. The confirmed infestation is on public and private properties northeast of the intersection of Randall Road and Route 38. IDA officials responded immediately with a limited survey of the area and results indicate the infestation is limited, at this time, to the immediate area along Bradbury Lane.

The recent and numerous EAB finds underscore the need for communities to be proactive against EAB. IDA urges community officials to initiate an ash-tree-reduction-strategy within their districts. "Begin by taking inventory of all ash trees within the community, budget needs for labor and equipment should large-scale ash tree removals be necessary. Then aggressively begin to cull your poor-conditioned ash trees. Work with local tree care professionals, as they are generally the first line of detection. Establish a formal plan to record and report inventory reduction and reforestation activities. Start now to develop a communication plan should the emerald ash borer be found in your community," says Warren Goetsch, bureau chief for Environmental Programs.

The emerald ash borer (EAB) is a small, metallic green, non-native invasive pest whose larvae feast on the trunks of ash trees thereby cutting off their ability to transport nutrients and ultimately causing the tree's decline. Ash trees can be infested with EAB for a few years before the tree begins to demonstrate any signs of EAB infestation. Symptoms of EAB include canopy dieback, D-shaped exit holes, shoots sprouting from the tree trunks and S-shaped larval galleries underneath the bark.

EAB was first discovered in Illinois in June 2006, in the Windings near Lily Lake in Kane County. The Illinois Department of Agriculture has since confirmed EAB infestations in several communities within Kane, northern Cook, DuPage and LaSalle counties and has issued a quarantine affecting all or parts of 18 of the northeastern-most counties of the state including Kane. As part of a cooperative agreement with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS), IDA is responsible for EAB survey, control/eradication and outreach.

This EAB infestation is of little surprise to IDA officials, as it seems to confirm suspicions of its movement pattern. "The Geneva EAB infestation kind of completes the connection between the first 2006 EAB find in Kane County and the earlier find in the summer of 2007 in Glendale Heights in Du Page County. If you look at a map with all the confirmed EAB infestations there is a hint of a definitive pattern, and Geneva was the missing link," says Mark Cinnamon, Nursery Manager for IDA.

City officials will continue to inventory and monitor trees closely to determine the full extent of the EAB infestation.

EAB was first discovered in North America in 2002 in the Detroit and Ontario areas. Since then, it is estimated that approximately 25 million ash trees in North America have been felled due to EAB.

More than 11,000 trees make up the City of Geneva's parkway canopies. The ash species account for approximately 20 percent of that number. As a proactive measure to limit the possible damage from an EAB infestation, the City of Geneva ceased the planting of ash trees in 2002. As a result of the Dutch Elm Disease that devastated Geneva's Elm tree population in the late 70's, the City implemented a tree planting program to diversify tree species to avoid a reoccurrence of another heavily populated canopy devastation.

City staff members will respond immediately to suspect sighting of EAB. It is very important for residents of Geneva to be aware and vigilant in inspecting their ash trees for this pest. If you suspect you may have found adult or larval form of this insect, freeze the insect and bring it the City of Geneva's Public Works Department, 1800 South Street or contact the Public Works Department at 232-1502 or the Illinois Department of Agriculture toll-free hotline 1-800-641-3934.

The Emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle that has left an estimated 25-million ash trees dead or dying in the U.S. and Canada, has opened a new front in its war on trees: south suburban Cook County. As the borer keeps turning up through Chicagoland, more communities are bracing for unexpected costs that will no doubt strain municipal budgets and resources.

A Morton Arboretum staffer this week found that six "Trap Trees" - among 650 set up in 2005 and 2006 to detect the borers through Northern Illinois - contained larvae, which state officials later determined was Emerald ash borer (EAB). The infested trees - set up in 2005 - are on Hazel Crest public works property near the municipal composting and burning facility. The property is part of what's called Open Lands, near the 170th and California interchange.

The Arboretum conducts the Trap Tree program in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Agriculture and with funding from the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Trap Trees in 2006 detected EAB near Elgin, Batavia, and in Campton Township. As with the other finds, experts will use additional survey methods around the Hazel Crest find to determine the size of the infestation's "footprint." Already, it appears that dozens of additional trees are infested.

The find is significant and an urgent reminder that communities must act, says Arboretum arborist and Community Trees Advocate Edith Makra, who also serves on the governor's Management and Science Advisory Panel for EAB.

"While this find is highly disappointing, it's no surprise. EAB detection has been very challenging and other municipalities may be already infested, though unaware. Hazel Crest is isolated from other finds in the region, pointing out once again that EAB could be anywhere. Communities should inventory and assess their trees, and plan to replace ash trees eventually," Makra says.

The Morton Arboretum and the South Suburban Mayors and Managers' Association (SSMMA) have scheduled a forum where state, federal, University of Illinois Extension, and Arboretum experts will brief public officials on EAB. It will be January 23 at 3:00 PM at SSMMA offices at 1904 West 174th Street, in East Hazel Crest.

Since June of 2006, Emerald ash borer has been detected in four Illinois counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, and LaSalle. It is expected to cost municipalities, private propertyowners, and the nursery industry billions of dollars in losses.

One in five trees in the Chicago urban area is ash, and there are an estimated 130-million ash trees in Illinois, therefore a large EAB infestation would be devastating to Illinois.