Greene County now joins 42 others in Iowa with confirmed evidence of the Emerald Ash Borer.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Iowa Department of Natural Resource officials says the insect was discovered east of Grand Junction. The infected area stretches out 15 miles in the surrounding area.

The insect has a metallic green color and is about one-half inch in length. Larvae burrow through an ash tree’s inner layer of bark and it eats away at the vascular tissue that supplies nutrients to the tree. The tree is then expected to die within two to four years. Signs that an ash tree maybe infested with EAB are the canopy dying back beginning from the top downwards, S-shaped feeding lines under dead or splitting bark and a D-shaped exit hole.

More information can be found at iowatreepests.com.