Emerald Ash Borer found in SW Iowa

The very first discovery of Emerald Ash Borer in Iowa was in Allamakee County, on an island in the main channel of the Mississippi River, in 2010.  EAB has since been discovered in Houston County in Minnesota.

But five years later no Emerald Ash Borers have been found yet in Winneshiek.  On Monday the Iowa Department of Agriculture confirmed an Emerald Ash Borer sighting in Montgomery County in southwest Iowa.  That makes 27 out of Iowa's 99 counties which have had confirmed cases.

The pest is responsible for the death of tens of millions of ash trees in the United States.  A statewide quarantine on the movement of firewood remains in effect in an attempt to slow the spread of the insect.