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Options for Minnesota After USDA Deregulation of Emerald Ash Borer Prepared by Minnesota Department of Agriculture, September , 2018 Background Emerald ash borer has been regulated by the USDA since 2002 when it was discovered in southeastern Michigan. As of September 2018, emerald ash borer can be found in 35 of the 48 continental states (73%) and the area federally regulated for emerald ash borer includes most of the native range of ash in the U.S. Emerald ash borer has been regulated by the MDA since 2009 when it was discovered on the Minnesota / Wisconsin border. As of September 2018, emerald ash borer can be found in 17 of Minnesota’s 87 counties (16%) and the areas of the state that have not yet been affected by emerald ash borer include some of the densest concentration of forestland ash in North America. In addition, emerald ash borer has only been found in 63 of Minnesota’s 853 cities (7%). The MDA has an active reporting system for emerald ash borer. The MDA provides EAB identification training to tree care providers and other natural resource professionals on a yearly basis. These individuals and other citizens are able to make reports of EAB through a variety of ways (mobile app, email, phone) which the MDA then follows up on to confirm or refute. All areas where EAB is confirmed are added to the MDA’s online EAB map within 24 hours. The map also uses an algorithm to buffer these finds and delineate areas as generally infested. The MDA, along with partners at the University of Minnesota and Forest Service, have also done extensive research on monitoring methods for emerald ash borer and have promoted what has been learned to communities and other stakeholders in Minnesota to encourage surveillance and reporting of EAB. The ultimate result is that Minnesota has a relatively robust surveillance system for an insect that is not easy to find at low densities. Broadly speaking there are three options for the MDA if emerald ash borer is deregulated by the USDA. Option 1: Maintain the status quo Compared to the national scale, EAB has reached relatively little of Minnesota’s ash resource. As a result it may be in the best interest of Minnesota to maintain regulations on EAB at the state level despite the lack of federal regulation. In this scenario, the EAB quarantine as it currently exists would be maintained. However, without a federal quarantine, the USDA would no longer regulate the interstate movement of EAB regulated articles. With the USDA no longer performing this function, the MDA would need to step in to prevent the import of articles into Minnesota that could carry EAB into un-infested areas of Minnesota. The mechanism that MDA would use to do this would be an exterior quarantine which would require public notice and a comment period. The MDA currently maintains exterior quarantines related to mountain pine beetle and to thousand cankers disease of walnut. The lack of a federal quarantine would also mean that USDA would discontinue survey efforts for EAB. Without a federal survey supporting EAB absence in non-quarantined areas, there is a risk that other states and countries may not recognize these areas as free from EAB and may treat all parts of Minnesota as infested with EAB. This would diminish the value of maintaining a quarantine for industries 26