FRENCHVILLE, Maine — Officials from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry’s Maine Forest Service and the Division of Animal and Plant Health will hold a public meeting in northern Aroostook County following the discovery of emerald ash borer (EAB) in Madawaska and Frenchville.
The public meeting is planned Monday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the Frenchville Community Center.
Department officials will discuss response plans to the insect, as well as a proposed emergency order to stop movement of ash from Frenchville and Madawaska. Members of the public in the affected area are encouraged to provide feedback and suggestions.
Future meetings will cover the biology of the insect, implications for forest health and management and potential impacts to cities and towns.
The emerald ash borer (EAB) was recently discovered in Madawaska, less than 200 yards from the Frenchville town line. This is the first detection of EAB in Maine. Because EAB attacks and kills all species of ash (except mountain ash), it presents a serious threat to Maine’s forest and shade trees. It is also a federally and internationally quarantined pest, which further adds priority to Maine’s response.
The Forest Service is proposing to place a temporary, emergency “stop movement” order on all live ash, ash logs and pulpwood and on all untreated firewood from Madawaska and Frenchville.
This emergency order is a temporary, stop-gap measure to address the immediate threat of inadvertent movement of EAB while the DACF and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) negotiate the size and conditions of a formal state/federal quarantine.
