CAMDEN — Monday morning, May 20, tagging ash trees in Camden for Arbor Day/Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week.

Abby Blakely, Camden Conservation Commission summer intern, and Hildy Ellis, Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation District program manager, were joined by Karen Coluzzi, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and Doug Johnson, TreeKeepers, to attach informational signs on about 20 trees in Camden village.

Emerald ash borer (EAB) is a metallic-green, wood-boring beetle, only 1/2” in length. Adult beetles feed on the leaves of ash trees, but the major damage to the tree is caused by the larvae feeding under the bark, making serpentine galleries that, in effect, “girdle” the tree, preventing the transport of water and nutrients and resulting in tree mortality within 3 or 4 years of infestation.

Emerald ash borer is a threat to all ash trees in North America and has already done considerable damage to ash in forests and residential properties across the eastern U.S. In addition to comprising an important part of the forest ecosystem, the wood from ash trees is valuable for flooring, cabinetry, hockey sticks and baseball bats.

Currently, there is a quarantine in effect in Maine that includes all of York County and parts of Aroostook County in the St. John Valley. This means that it is against the law to move many timber products out of these areas without a special compliance agreement. More information about the quarantine and EAB may be found at www.maine.gov/eab.