Illinois’ EAB Quarantine Boundaries Expanded

Expansion will allow residential yard waste pick-up to continue uninterrupted in quarantine areas and help communities comply with quarantine restrictions designed to prevent the destructive beetle’s spread.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Agriculture has adjusted its emerald ash borer quarantine boundaries in Kane and northern Cook counties to include existing yard waste
transfer stations and processing sites.
The expansion will allow for the continuation of residential yard waste pick-up and material processing within quarantine boundaries during the beetle’s flight season, which will
help to prevent the artificial spread of the pest. Recognizing there were many yard waste transfer stations and processing sites just outside the original quarantine boundaries, the department expanded the regulated areas to minimize the impact the quarantine restrictions were having on municipalities, homeowners and businesses.
“The amendment should ease the burden of compliance for affected citizens and local units of government as we approach the onset of the borer’s flight season, which begins in May,” Director of Agriculture Chuck Hartke said.
The entire county of Kane and minor portions of northwestern Cook, western DuPage, northern Kendall and eastern DeKalb counties are affected.
The quarantine prohibits the removal of the following items from the affected areas:
  • The emerald ash borer in any living stage of development.
  • Ash trees of any size.
  • Ash limbs and branches.
  • Any cut, non-coniferous firewood.
  • Bark from ash trees and wood chips larger than one inch from ash trees.
  • Ash logs and lumber with either the bark or the outer one-inch of sapwood, or both, attached.
  • Any item made from or containing the wood of the ash tree that is capable of spreading the emerald ash borer.
  • Any other article, product or means of conveyance determined by the determined by the Illinois Department of Agriculture to present a risk of spreading the beetle infestation.
Anyone convicted of moving prohibited items from the quarantine area without prior
certification by an Illinois Department of Agriculture nursery inspector may be fined up to $500.
The amended Kane County Quarantine area is described as follows:
Bounded on the north by the northern Kane County line; Bounded on the east by Illinois Route 62, Illinois Route 59, and U.S. Route 34, then proceeding southwest along U.S. Route 34 from Illinois Route; bounded on the south by U.S. Route 34, Illinois Route 71, then proceeding southwest along Illinois Route 71 from U.S. Route 34; and bounded on the west by the Kendall County line to Interstate 88, proceeding west along Interstate 88 to Hinckley Road to Gurler Road, proceeding west to Peace Road, north to Illinois Route 38, then east to the western Kane County line, and back north to the northern Kane County line (see map below).
The expanded area in northern Cook County includes a site operated by the Solid Waste
Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC). SWANCC plans to expand its operations to
include material processing and has recently applied for various state and local permits to do so.
The area in Cook County is described as follows:
The previous Cook County quarantine extended north to south from the Lake County line to the northernmost city limit of Chicago and east to west from Lake Michigan to Interstate 294. The additional quarantined area lies between I-294 and Des Plaines River Road/Milwaukee Ave (see map below).
The emerald ash borer was confirmed in Kane County June 9, 2006. It was discovered in Wilmette July 13 and the neighboring communities of Evanston and Winnetka shortly thereafter. A tree in the nearby community of Skokie was confirmed as infested earlier this month.
The beetle, a native of Asia, has killed more than 20 million ash trees since arriving in
North America in 2002. Besides Illinois, infestations have been confirmed in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Maryland and Ontario, Canada.
For more information regarding EAB in Illinois, visit the department’s website at
www.IllinoisEAB.com.
 
      
       
 
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