REDWOOD FALLS (KMHL) – The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has confirmed emerald ash borer (EAB) in Nicollet and Redwood counties for the first time. Thirty counties in the state now have EAB.
An MDA employee was surveying for EAB near reported infestations in Brown County when he noticed ash trees with signs of EAB at Sailors and Soldiers Memorial Park Campground in Sanborn, Redwood County, and across the Minnesota River from New Ulm in Lafayette Township, Nicollet County. Both sites are less than 10 miles from previously confirmed EAB infestations. MDA staff were able to find live EAB larvae and collect samples for federal identification.
Emerald ash borer larvae kill ash trees by tunneling under the bark and feeding on the part of the tree that moves nutrients up and down the trunk