Southern Tier and Central New York Counties Ash Borer Quarantined

A state quarantine on Ash wood products in New York State has just been extended to 22 more counties including several in the Southern Tier and Central New York due to the spreading infestation of the Emerald Ash Borer Beetle.

The beetle's larvae are responsible for destroying tens of millions of trees over the past decade.

Local quarantines in affected counties regulating the movement of Ash products are now replaced with a single ban covering all or parts of 42 counties stretching from Western New York to New England.

Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Tioga and Tompkins counties are under the broad quarantine while Oneida and Onondaga counties are under partial quarantine after the beetle was detected in the Syracuse region last month.

There are still 20 counties still not included in the broad quarantine, including the Adirondacks, Rockland, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and New York City.

The invasive beetle was discovered in 2002 in Michigan and has been steadily crawling east.

Since 2008, New York State has banned untreated firewood from entering the state and the wood can't be moved more than 50 miles from where its source within New York.

Baseball is even affected by the infestation since Ash has long been the popular wood of choice for the manufacture of baseball bats.