Ash Borer's Not in New York Yet ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - The Cornell Cooperative Extension service says New York has a reprieve on the arrival of the Emerald Ash Borer, a pest that kills ash trees.

Horticulturists and agriculture department officials were concerned last month when traps in Niagara County caught several shiny green beetles that resembled the ash borer.

But Walt Nelson of the Monroe-Ontario County Extension Office says tests have confirmed they weren't ash borers. They were "look alike" insects that share the metallic green color of the ash borer beetles.

Nelson says New York State has dodged the bullet so far, but the ash borer is still expected to arrive here eventually. The beetle infests only ash trees, leaving a "D" shaped hole as it drills through the wood. Infestation eventually kills the tree.

The ash borer is an Asian pest that probably came to the Detroit area in an load of infected wood. It's been spreading from there, and experts say it will eventually reach western New York either from the west, or from the north via Montreal.

The USDA is researching predators that feed on the beetle, but for now there are pesticides that can protect individual trees. Nelson says they're too expensive to use on forests or woodlots, where thousands of trees are at risk.
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