The invasive emerald ash borer has a foothold in another Wisconsin county. Officials in Outagamie County said the tree-eating pest has been discovered in Appleton.
The borer was found by a private tree contractor in Appleton at the end of January. That brings the number of Wisconsin counties affected by the insect to 31. Most of the counties are in southern, eastern and northeastern Wisconsin.
Appleton’s city forester, Mike Michlig, said he’s been expecting the borer.
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“We’ve been planning this since it was found in 2002 in Michigan,” he said.
Michlig said the city has about 4,300 ash trees on its property.
“So we have had plans in place where we’ve been monitoring our ash population, removing some of our ash trees and working on it from multiple different fronts,” he said. “So we’re going to keep doing those things and maybe accelerate it a little bit.”
The emerald ash borer has also been found the neighboring Winnebago, Brown, and Calumet counties.
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