A vicious intruder is making its way to Orange County.
The tree-killing emerald ash borer has been found as close as 30 miles away in Person, Vance and Granville counties in recent months, said Robert Trickel, the head of the Forest Health Branch of the N.C. Forest Service.
This unwelcome guest appeared last week in Warren County, which is about 70 miles northeast of Orange County, Trickel said.
Trickel said the arrival of this beetle in Orange County is unavoidable.
“It is imminent,” he said. “It is a beetle that is hard to find. It moves kind of quickly.”
The beetle infects ash trees by laying the eggs of its larvae inside the tree, said Kelly Oten, a forest health specialist with the N.C. Forest Service. Within a few years, the entire tree dies.
“They kill trees. It’s pretty straightforward,” she said. “They are capable of killing all four types of ash trees in North Carolina.”
These beetles have been found in 22 states and are continuing to spread, she said.
“Like all insects they are capable of dispersing,” Oten said. “The adult beetles are capable of flight. The other way the insect can spread is if people move firewood that they do not know has the beetle.”