Emerald ash borer (EAB) has been confirmed in Brown County and officials have put that southern Minnesota county under emergency quarantine to limit movement of firewood and other material. Brown is the 21st county in Minnesota with E-A-B–and the third new county to confirm infestations in the past two months. Mark Abrahamson with the state Agriculture Department says, “Minnesota has done really well with emerald ash borer. It has spread much more slowly here than it has in the rest of the country in general, by a factor of about a third, but it is still spreading.” Abrahamson says it’s important that people are “watching for signs of infestation and reporting them when they think they see them, because it is important to keep track of where it is.”
The pest was discovered in Nobles County in July and Steele County two weeks ago. The insect kills ash trees by tunneling under the bark and feeding on the part of the tree that moves nutrients up and down the trunk.