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Emerald ash borer found in Falcon Heights I StarTribune.com <br />Emerald ash borer • • in Falcon <br />Heights <br />By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune <br />1....ast uI,.,)d'ate: November 10, 2009 10:48 AIM <br />The lethal emerald ash borer has been discovered <br />in a tree on the University of Minnesota campus in <br />Falcon Heights, about a mile from its initial <br />outbreak. <br />Inspectors from the state agriculture department <br />found the tree Tuesday, said Geir Friisoe, director <br />of the department's plant protection division. <br />"The bad news is we found it a ways off from the <br />core [of infestation] but the good news is that the <br />emerald ash borer isn't a big traveler," Friisoe <br />said. "I'm guessing it's only spread to a radius of a <br />mile or two." <br />The insect's first appearance in Minnesota was <br />confirmed in a nearby St. Paul neighborhood in <br />May. It now threatens the state's 900 million ash <br />trees. <br />In the days after the bug was confirmed in St. <br />Paul, foresters removed 68 infested ash trees in <br />and around the Hampden Park neighborhood. <br />They also removed 46 other obviously declining <br />ash in a ring outside "ground zero," and found <br />only one infested. <br />Advertisement <br />Testing by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has <br />determined that the borers entered St. Paul trees <br />in 2006. By contrast, borers had been killing trees <br />in Michigan for more than a decade before <br />researchers even knew they were there. <br />The tree in Falcon Heights appeared to be healthy, <br />"where you usually see obvious symptoms of <br />decline," Friisoe said. "That indicates it was a <br />recent attack." <br />Department spokesman Mike Schommer said <br />inspectors were able to identify the tree because <br />it had sustained woodpecker damage -- one sign <br />an infestation because the birds like to eat ash <br />borer larvae. <br />The discovery means city officials may now tap <br />into a $1 million state fund that pays for <br />immediate municipal response to the infestation, <br />he said. <br />Staff writer Bill McAuliffe contributed to this <br />report. <br />YYpp � muuuui �timumi l iuiuv rr <br />III " I� t�II uuuu '' lllllllll ��uui <br />Print Powered By � IIS' �..,,,`..,,.,I I I i., iu Maui m uluc <br />Page 1 of 1 <br />http://www.startribune.com/local/70378877.html 11/24/2009 <br />