Emerald ash borer found in Webster Parish

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A new bug that can kill an ash tree in just a couple of years has been discovered in Louisiana.

On Wednesday, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry reported that the state joined 24 others in being the new home of the emerald ash borer insect that has wreaked havoc on ash tree populations from Michigan to Arkansas.

First discovered in the United States in 2002 in Michigan, the insect quickly traveled to other Midwest states and then down the East Coast. On Wednesday, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry confirmed that the beetle had made it to Webster Parish.

Tim Schowalter, with the LSU Agricultural Center, tells The Advocate (http://bit.ly/1FxHK7l) they’d been expecting the bug because it was found 30 miles from the Louisiana border last year.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com