Category: Uncategorized

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 21, 2015

Illinois To Drop Internal EAB Quarantine
2015 Survey Confirms Discovery of Emerald Ash Borer in 10 New Counties

SPRINGFIELD, IL.—The state of Illinois will no longer restrict the movement of any cut, non-coniferous firewood within the state. Illinois joins Missouri, Iowa, and Kentucky in the deregulation of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).

The 2015 survey of traps detected EAB in 10 new counties in Illinois: Madison, Mercer, Jackson, Saline, Hamilton, Wayne, Clay, Jefferson, Washington, and Bond. The addition of 10 new counties has brought the total count of confirmed counties to 60.

“The survey results this year support deregulation with nearly 60 percent of our counties confirmed positive for EAB,” said Plant and Pesticide Specialist Supervisor Scott Schirmer. “Over the past decade, the regulations and quarantines have served their purpose to slow the rate of spread and afford people time to manage for this pest. However, there comes a time when the pest is too widespread to continue to regulate, and this is our time.”

Previously EAB presence was confirmed in 50 counties, but 61 of Illinois’ 102 counties were under a state quarantine, which was intended to prevent artificial or human assisted spread of the beetle.

“Even though the state of Illinois is lifting its in-state EAB quarantine, I urge all Illinoisans to remain vigilant against the man-assisted spread of not only this pest, but all invasive species,” said Acting Agriculture Director Warren Goetsch. “Illinois will remain part of a federal quarantine, meaning firewood or other ash related products cannot travel into a state that currently has regulations. I urge people to consider the potential impacts of their actions, in general, before they move items like firewood. We’ve witnessed the impacts EAB has had on our trees and budgets, and we want to prevent introduction and spread of other current and future invasive species.”

Since the first detection of the pest near Detroit, Michigan, in 2002, the beetle has killed more than 250 million ash trees. The borer, known for its distinctive, metallic green wing color, is native to Asia. Its larvae burrow into the bark of ash trees, causing the trees to starve and eventually die. The tiny beetle often is difficult to detect, especially in newly-infested trees. Signs of infestation include thinning and yellowing of leaves, D-shaped holes in the bark of the trunk or branches and basal shoots. Each year Illinois Department of Agriculture officials submit samples from various purple EAB traps throughout the state and send them to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to confirm the presence of EAB.

Anyone who suspects an ash tree has been infested should contact their county Extension office, their village forester or the Illinois Department of Agriculture at (815) 787-5476.

For further information about the beetle, visit www.IllinoisEAB.com.

It’s the time of year when my email is flooded with reports of brown marmorated stink bugs. Yep, it’s a sure sign fall is upon us.

As the growing season winds down, the temperatures begin to cool, and the days get shorter, several insects take to hanging out on the sides of houses, garages, and window sills. While they may appear to be warming themselves in the sun, these wily little creatures are most likely scoping out a nice place to spend the winter months. The days of boxelder bugs and multicolored Asian ladybeetles are not over, but there is a new house guest in several parts of the state.

The brown marmorated stink bug has been present in Illinois for quite some time (feel free to use the search engine on the Hone, Yard, and Garden Newsletter site to read more about them), but in recent years they are becoming much more noticeable in several areas of the state and a real nuisance as well.

A great resource for homeowners is a publication from Cornell University. It’s important to remember that it is geared towards homeowners in the east. While these management strategies are applicable in Illinois, the situations requiring treatment the landscape outside the home decrease the number of BMSB home invaders has been quite small.  The Unwelcome House Guest: Brown Marmorated Stink Bug–A Guide for Residents, Property Managers, and Pest Management Professionals

Currently, the known distribution of this insect in Illinois is limited. Homeowners are our primary source of information during the fall and spring. We are very interested in where these insects may be and continue to try to determine where they are in Illinois.

If you believe you have BMSB, we would be very interested in looking at it. Suspect stink bugs may be sent to Kelly Estes, 1816 S. Oak St., Champaign, IL 61820. Please put stink bugs in a crush-proof container (pill bottle, check box, etc). You can also send a photo to kcook8@illinois.edu for preliminary screening if you wish.

Recordings of the presentations from the 2015 Illinois Invasive Species Symposium are now available online on the symposium webpage –

http://www.invasive.org/illinois/2015InvasiveSpeciesSymposium.html

The all-day symposium featured 11 presentations on a wide range of invasive species topics and included the Illinois Invasive Species Awards Ceremony. (See the full agenda at http://www.invasive.org/illinois/2015_IllinoisInvasiveSpeciesSymposiumagenda.pdf)

Over 100 people attended the symposium in person and over 50 signed onto watch the live webcast.  A direct link to the recordings – http://www.invasive.org/illinois/presentations.html.

Do you get questions about which ornamental plant is considered invasive and what alternative plant options are?  If so MIPN has created a great resource for you. We call it the Landscape Alternatives brochure. Within the brochure are known invasive plants sold in the ornamental trade industry with alternative species (native and non-native) provided.

This resource has actually been available for several years, and is also available as a mobile App for android and apple products. Recently we have updated this Application to include four additional invasive species (English ivy, Chinese silvergrass (Miscanthus sinensis), porcelainberry, and callery pear) along with 36 recommended alternatives to these species.

To download the App please click on this link here!

The brochure can be purchased from the MIPN website www.mipn.org

Please share this FREE resource to other individuals to limit the purchase (and spread) of invasive plants throughout the midwestern United States!

Mark Renz (President MIPN)

Join us for the second annual Illinois Invasive Species Awareness Month (ISAM) Symposium at the University of Illinois Extension office, in Champaign, IL on Thursday, May 28^th from 9:30 am to 4 pm. It will be a great opportunity to learn more about what is happening on the invasive species front throughout Illinois.  The event will feature talks about invasive species ranging from snake fungal disease and white-nose syndrome in bats to aquatic invasive plants.  For more information see the attached announcement.  The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required (see below for details).  Please forward to this anyone that might be interested.

ISAM Illinois Invasive Species Symposium
May 28, 2015
University of Illinois Extension Office
801 N Country Fair Drive
Champaign, IL 61821 (Champaign County)

The Illinois Invasive Species Symposium is a one-day, all-taxa symposium that features talks on current and emerging issues surrounding invasive plants, diseases, insects, and animals in Illinois. Featured as the culmination of the 2015 Illinois Invasive Species Awareness Month, the event also includes the ceremony for this year’s Invasive Species Awareness Month Awards.

REGISTRATION

This event is free to the public, but space is limited. Registration is preferred. Save your seat at: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/units/event.cfm?UnitID=480&EventID=68615

DIRECTIONS

Detailed directions can be found on the University of Illinois Unit 13 website: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/cfiv/findus.html

Agenda

from the Illinois Invasive Species Awareness Blog…

Last fall, an infestation of Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) was found in Johnson County Iowa.  This represents that first time this species has been found in that state and the furthest Northwest it has been found.

Even though stiltgrass is an annual plant that ‘comes on’ primarily in the summer, it can still be identified this time of year by the thatch…

(more) 

The River to River Cooperative Weed Management Area has recently published the ‘Management of Invasive Plants of Southern Illinois’ guide. This 20 page booklet gives details different control techniques and gives specific management recommendations for 27 invasive plants species present in southern Illinois.

A pdf of the guide can be found at http://www.rtrcwma.org/Management_SILinvasiveplants.pdf

The Asian wasp Trissolcus japonicus has been found in the wild in the United States. The wasp, native to the regions of Asia where the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) originates, is known to attack the eggs of BMSB and possibly other stink bugs. The wasp doesn’t sting or otherwise harm humans, but scientists are working to determine how it might affect stink bugs of all kinds. Kim Hoelmer, an entomologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, wrote:

“A survey of resident egg parasitoids of the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, conducted during the summer of 2014 by Don Weber (ARS-Beltsville Area Research Center, or BARC) using sentinel stink bug egg masses revealed that an Asian egg parasitoid of BMSB, Trissolcus japonicus, was present in the wild at one of his study sites at BARC in Beltsville, Maryland. The specimens were identified by Dr. Elijah Talamas (ARS, Systematic Entomology Laboratory, or SEL), a specialist on this group of parasitoids. We have complete confidence in his identifications. The identification was confirmed by Dr. Matt Buffington (also ARS-SEL) using genomic DNA. The ‘barcode’ regions COI and ITS2 of the BARC specimens were consistent with those of Asian populations of T. japonicus obtained from ARS and CABI-Bioscience field collections in Asia and analyzed by Dr. M.C. Bon at the ARS European Biological Control Laboratory…(more)

For some animals, there’s no such thing as a dog-eat-dog world. They rule.
Animals from around the world that stow away in airplanes, ships and the luggage of some smuggler become almost bulletproof when they make their way into the American wilderness as invasive species. Why? They’re new here, and they don’t have predators to keep them in check. Animals that should be afraid of a vicious predator aren’t. Invasive species eat like kings.

Living high on the hog, these marauders aren’t going anywhere. Unlike many native animals that are disappearing from North America — vaquita porpoises, monarch butterflies, bottlenose dolphin and such — invasive species are growing faster than wildlife and game officials can manage them. In many cases, authorities have given up any hope of eradicating them.
Here are 12 of the most destructive invasive plants and animals in the United States, a dirty dozen. If it’s on this list, there’s a good chance that a government official in an office somewhere is trying to think of ways to kill it.

Burmese pythons

These long, lean eating machines are terrorizing the Florida Everglades. Humans don’t have much to fear, but native animals had better watch their backs. Alligators are being knocked off their perch as the swamp’s top predator. People ask why these snakes are such a problem. Why can’t experienced hunters walk into the Everglades and kill them? Burmese pythons from Southeast Asia are so stealthy that even experts with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have a tough time spotting them, let alone killing them. Since they were determined to be established and put the squeeze on the swamp in 2002, deer, raccoon, marsh rabbits, bobcats and possum have declined by as much as 99 percent in some cases, according to researchers for the U.S. Geological Survey.

Emerald ash borer

This bug’s march across the Midwest is not the kind of green movement that conserves nature. It ruins ash trees that provide durable wood used for flooring, bowling alleys, church pews, baseball bats and electric guitars. The bugs sparkle like a jewel with their glittery hide, but the nickel-sized holes they bore into trees are ugly, and the squiggly trails their larvae etch on the bark can make your skin crawl. They arrived in southeastern Michigan in 2002 from their native habitats in Russia, China and Japan. Since then, tens of millions of ash trees have been killed, and their numbers continue to grow.

…more

Did you miss the EAB University Webinar on the Emerald Ash Borer and the White Fringe Tree?

“EAB on the ‘Fringes’ of It’s Host Range” is not available to be viewed online