2 open houses offer data about fighting ash borer

4/27/2005

Two more open houses have been scheduled for people to learn about the exotic pest behind one of the largest tree-removal campaigns in history.

The next forum will be from 6 to 8 p.m. May 4 at the North Baltimore Library, 230 North Main St., North Baltimore, Ohio.

Another will be from 5 to 8 p.m. May 5 at the West Toledo branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, 1320 West Sylvania Ave.

At both, residents are urged to come and go as they please and speak directly with Ohio Department of Agriculture plant pest-control staff about the emerald ash borer. The pest is from Asia and has killed or imperiled countless ash trees in northwest Ohio, Michigan's lower peninsula, southwest Ontario, and northeast Indiana.

The latest open houses are for residents of Lucas, Hancock, and Wood counties to learn about plans for removing more ash trees from the North Baltimore and West Toledo areas in a continuing effort to cut off the beetle from its only known food source, the state agriculture department said.