DALTON – Officials from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) announced today that a quarantine will be established in Berkshire County, in order to stop the spread of the invasive insect species Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). This decision comes after extensive survey in the affected area and public hearings.

“The Emerald Ash Borer brings a very serious threat to our ash trees, and we are not taking its presence lightly,” said DCR Commissioner Ed Lambert. “We believe a county-wide quarantine will allow the best chance at slowing the spread of Emerald Ash Borer.”

The quarantine will take effect March 1, 2013.

EAB was first detected in Massachusetts in Dalton in August of 2012. Massachusetts is the eighteenth state discovered to have EAB within its borders.

Immediately following the detection of the invasive species, DCR began work with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (DAR), the United States Forest Service (USFS), and the United State Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to formulate a plan for dealing with the invasive insect.

DCR set up more than 700 EAB traps across the Commonwealth. With funding from the USFS, DCR also girdled 26 trees, a process known as delimiting that stresses the individual trees in an attempt to attract and sequester any EAB in the area.

After the delimiting survey was completed around the Dalton/Pittsfield area, five trees were found to have EAB larvae present. These trees are located within a 1.5 mile radius of the trap where the first EAB beetle was detected in August 2012.

DCR engaged in a public outreach campaign, including public meetings that allowed the public to express their opinions and concerns on the topic of quarantine. Though most public comments posted in the aftermath of these meetings called for quarantine as small as scientifically possible, the studies conducted indicated that a county-wide quarantine would work best.

The quarantine order means that certain products will be regulated from moving outside the regulated area, including all hardwood firewood (any piece of wood smaller than 48”), all ash nursery stock, and any ash lumber that has not been treated. Proper wood treatments include the removal of bark and half an inch of wood, dry kiln sterilization, fumigation, and heat treatments.

The state of New York recently added 22 new counties to their EAB quarantine, including counties that abut the Berkshire County border. This will allow wood to move from quarantined county to quarantined county, including moving regulated wood from Massachusetts to the mills that are just over the border in New York, relieving some of the financial pressure on the wood industry in Berkshire County.

Plans for future surveys are currently being discussed and EAB traps will be utilized again this summer in Massachusetts, as well as the girdling of approximately 100 ash trees to continue to help narrow the infestation.