Illinois lifts final Asian longhorned beetle quarantine zone Posted: 7…

Illinois lifts final Asian longhorned beetle
quarantine zone
Posted: 7/17/06

Agriculture officials claimed a victory last Wednesday as they lifted the state's last Asian
longhorned beetle quarantine zone eight years after the insect first was discovered in
Illinois.

"Today...we are able to take down the last quarantine area set up to prevent the
movement of the beetle and rid Illinois of the invasive pest," said state Department of
Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke.

The quarantine zone around Oz Park in the city's Lincoln Park neighborhood restricted
how people could remove and dispose of firewood, lumber, trees and branches in the
area.

Although the state's quarantine zones have been lifted, officials will continue to inspect
trees in all formerly quarantined areas through 2007, the Department of Agriculture said
in a statement. There have been three years of negative inspections, four are necessary for
confirmation the beetle is eradicated.

But even as agriculture officials celebrate the apparent disappearance of one tree-killing
beetle, they are dealing with a new pest blamed for destroying millions of ash trees across
the Midwest.

The emerald ash borer recently was found by a homeowner in a rural subdivision near
Lily Lake, about 40 miles west of Chicago in central Kane County. But officials have
said it's possible the pest has been there as long as five years and has spread. It is believed
to have found its way from China to the United States in shipping crates, possibly as long
as 15 years ago.

State officials are planning a survey to determine whether the bug has spread beyond the
subdivision where it was found and to declare it a nuisance, which would allow the state
to destroy infested ash trees.

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