Emerald Ash Borer found in Evanston

The Illinois Department of Agriculture today confirmed the Emerald Ash Borer has been located in Evanston in seven trees in Lovelace Park.

The infestation was discovered by a city forestry worker assisting in a survey begun after the beetles were found in Wilmette.

Lovelace Park is located at Gross Point Road at Thayer Street in the far northwest area of Evanston, not far from the scene of the Wilmette outbreak.

In addition, the Emerald Ash Borer was discovered in a tree on private property on the east side of Gross Point Road at Thayer Street.

The borer is a destructive, non-native pest that feasts on ash trees. The first case in Illinois was detected in June in Kane County and it was found in Wilmette a week ago.

A quarantine zone has been put in place around 51 square miles of Kane County to contain the spread. Once the survey in Cook County is complete, the quarantine will be amended to reflect the damage and contain the spread.

“The initial EAB find in Wilmette reflected 16 infested trees within a five block area,” IDOA Division Manager of Natural Resources Warren Goetsch said. “As the survey continues we have now found 30 trees within two communities all within a three-quarter mile radius of the original detection. At this point we don’t know how much farther the infestation exists but we can’t stress enough how important community participation is in fighting the battle against the Emerald Ash Borer.”

“Evanston staff will promptly respond to all suspected sightings of the borer,” Douglas J. Gaynor, director of Evanston’s Parks/Forestry and Recreation Department, said. “Residents are learning to recognize ash trees and more of them now realize that the borer is smaller than a penny. We expect the number of false sightings to decrease as more people become educated.”