Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders says state reports two confirmed cases of emerald ash borer in central Kentucky.

Officials with the Office of the State Entomologist in the University of Kentucky Entomology Department today announced two confirmed occurrences in Kentucky of emerald ash borer, an invasive insect pest of ash trees. These are the first findings of this destructive insect in the state.

The discoveries resulted from Kentucky Division of Forestry and University of Kentucky officials investigating reports of dying ash trees in a private woodlot in Shelby County and a residential landscape in Jessamine County.

 The emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis, a wood-boring beetle accidentally introduced to North America from eastern Asia with ash wood products circa 1998, has killed millions of trees in the Midwestern US and adjacent Ontario, and some isolated smaller areas on eastern North America.

The beetle threatens some 7 billion ash trees in North America. The public is being cautioned not to transport unfinished wood products, such as firewood, to slow the spread of this insect pest.

The most common ash tree in Kentucky is the white ash. The state Division of Forestry estimates that there are 131 million white ashes in Kentucky. It is more of an upland tree, with little tolerance for growing in wet areas. One of the differentiating characteristics between it and the other ashes is the scar that a fallen leaf leaves behind. The leaf scar on white ash has more of a grin to it than do the other ashes.

Green ash can be found in a wide variety of sites across the state, but its natural habitat is more poorly drained soils, usually along streams, in bottom lands, and throughout wet woods. When comparing the leaf scar of green ash to that of white, the scar on green ash appears be more like a semicircle with a flat line across the top.  There are an estimated 92 million green ash trees in Kentucky.