Ash Trees Sold in Sanford May Be Infested

Officials from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry are trying to locate green ash trees that were sold at Lowe’s stores in Maine, including the Sanford location, earlier this year. The trees came from an area infested with emerald ash borers, a wood-boring beetle native to Asia that spreads rapidly and kills the trees. All of York County is currently a quarantine area for the insects, which have killed hundreds of millions of trees across North America.

The trees are labeled Ash Green / Fraxinus Pennsylvanica. The compound leaves are pictured in the photo above. If you think you or a neighbor may have purchased one of these trees, contact the Maine State Horticulture Program by emailing bugwatch@maine.gov or calling 207-287-7545.

White fringetrees are also susceptible to emerald ash borer, but usually survive. Mountain ash, the small tree that has orange berries toward the end of summer, is a different species and is not affected by the pests.

For more information about emerald ash borers, including how to identify them, visit emeraldashborer.info/.

Photo by Keith Kanoti, Maine Forest Service, USA – This image is Image Number 5349055 at Forestry Images, a source for forest health, natural resources and silviculture images operated by The Bugwood Network at the University of Georgia and the USDA Forest Service., CC BY 3.0 us, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5325287