State officials redefine ash borer boundaries

10/29/2004

Fifteen thousand ash trees near North Baltimore, Ohio, will come down by mid-November, about 5,000 more than originally thought.

Lucia Hunt, Ohio Department of Agriculture survey coordinator, said yesterday the cutting operation needs to be expanded by about that many trees because the emerald ash borer has spread farther than expected.

North Baltimore's latest infestation is along Eagleville Road near Rocky Ford Creek, just beyond the southwest boundary of the original 10,000-tree cutting zone.

As a result, the cutting zone will be expanded an additional half-mile in a southwesterly direction, encompassing eastern parts of the village, Ms. Hunt said.

Also yesterday, the state agriculture department announced that its restriction on the movement of firewood and other ash products from the Toledo area has been expanded to include Lucas County - excluding the area east of the Maumee River - and portions of Fulton and Henry counties.

The local quarantine previously applied only to the vicinity of Swanton, Toledo Express Airport, and the Maumee State Forest.

A separate quarantine exists in Defiance County's Hicksville Township.

Violators could be subject to a $10,000 fine.

A Toledo City Council committee yesterday was briefed about trees infested in the city.

The latest infestations were announced last week: in Resurrection Cemetery at Hill Avenue and Holland-Sylvania Road, and near Secor Road at I-475.

That brings the number of affected areas within the city to four. Two others, one near Toledo Hospital and another in Greenwood Park, were announced previously.

Officials have said thousands of ash trees will be removed from Toledo before mid-May, when the insect emerges from trees in its beetle form.