Ulster County Emerald Ash Borer Task Force

Municipal officials, please join the effort to educate and mitigate against EAB. Please contact Aaron Bennett at  on how you can help out and get involved!

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR MUNICIPAL HIGHWAY and ELECTED OFFICIALS

With all of Ulster County inside the Quarantined Area there are certain restrictions on what, when, and how ash trees and material are managed. It is critical that municipalities fully understand what can, and cannot be done. Please be sure to read and familiarize yourself with the regulations for hazard tree removal and transport (if necessary), and the quarantine area. The SAFEST things to do is to contact NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSDAM) and get a compliance agreement. Information on this and who to contact, is provided below.

NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets (DAM):

• EAB Regulations (1 NYCRR Part 141)

• EAB Quarantine Map

• EAB Compliance Agreement  (all municipalities should get one)

Contact: Nan Morgan, Horticultural Inspector I

Phone- 518-788-2005; Email-

 

• Compliance Agreement FAQs (full document)

–  Selected specific terms within above agreement-

1. No movement of infested articles during the period of (May 1 to September 30). Infested tree(s) may be cut down outside this time frame if the tree(s) have been declared a hazard to the safety of the public by a state, county, or local official.
2. During the period (October 1 to April 30) Logs and other regulated materials may be brought to the above establishment.
3. All infested material (Fraxinus species) will be kept segregated and processed or treated in an approved manner or destroyed before May 1 each year.

 

IF YOUR MUNICIPALITY IS DEALING WITH ANY ASH MATERIAL, COVER YOURSELF BY SIMPLY GETTING A COMPLIANCE AGREEMENT IN PLACE FROM NYSDAM

 

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC):

• EAB General Information page (New York State)
• Firewood Regulations to Protect Native Forests (pertains to all insect pests)
• Self-Issued Firewood Certificate (firewood personal use)
• NYSDEC’s EAB Response Plan

 

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS):

• EAB General Information page (federal)
• Federal Regulations (state-to-state movement)

 

RECENT NEWS:

NYS Takes Action to Prevent Spread of EAB on Firewood in Ulster County – A firewood producer and dealer offered ash firewood infested with living EAB for sale to the public on Route 28 in the Town of Olive. If the infected materials were sold or transported off-site, it could have led to the further spread of this invasive species in the region.

EAB and the Cold Winter Weather in NY – Will this cold winter cause the demise of invasive forest pests? Mark Whitmore, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University gives us the answer.

Woodstock Town Board OKs inoculating five ash trees – The Town Board has approved spending $918 to inoculate five ash trees against the emerald ash borer on the Comeau property.

“Emerald Ash Borer Digs into Wallets” article – local residents and municipal officials take note

Major League Baseball and the EAB – The Emerald Ash Borer is destroying ash trees across Pennsylvania, home of Louisville Slugger’s supply of ash trees. What does this mean for the future of ash baseball bats?

MAY 2013 – Emerald Ash Borer Confirmed in Delaware and Otsego Counties – EAB has been confirmed for the first time in Delaware and Otsego counties, found just south of the village of Unadilla. A timber harvester working in a private woodlot reported the suspected EAB infestation to DEC officials. This was the first report of a possible EAB infestation in a woodlot from the forest products industry in New York.

Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Discovered at Kenneth Wilson State Campground in Mt Tremper – NYSDEC Press Release (8/10/12)

WHERE IS IT and WHAT IS BEING DONE?

Current “EAB Risk” map provided by the NYSDEC (June 2014)

Ash Distribution in New York State

 

Town of Woodstock passes resolution committing to EAB response

At the request of the town board, the Woodstock Environmental Commission pared down the draft Preparedness Plan for Emerald Ash Borer posted on the official website of Woodstock, NY and passed the following resolution:

Be it Resolved, to accept the recommendation of the Woodstock Environmental Commission to use a combination of strategies to mitigate the threat to public safety caused by the emerald ash borer’s devastation of native ash trees, to wit;

• Removal of afflicted, dying ash trees in the Town’s ownership;
• Treatment with insecticide of carefully selected ash trees whose continued existence is deemed a high public interest;
• Pre-emptive removal of ash trees located in highly trafficked public places deemed to pose immediate, or near-future threat to public safety.  
• To download the full preparedness plan, click here: Emerald Ash Borer Preparedness Plan, Woodstock, NY

Cornell Cooperative Extension has developed a Community Preparedness Plan Workbook to help your community plan for the arrival of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). Click here to download the guide.

You can also find information on the City of Kingston’s Emerald Ash Borer Website.

Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership (CRISP)

Presentation by CRISP staff at the August 2010 EMC Meeting – EAB Presentation

The most up-to-date information about Emerald Ash Borer Infestation can usually be found at www.nyis.info.