Woodbridge on Alert for Emerald Ash Borer

Woodbridge, NJ - It's about the size of a cooked grain of rice, and it's causing havoc in certain New Jersey towns.

We're talking about the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive species of beetle that is responsible for wiping out entire groves of trees, specifically ash trees, where it breeds. Woodbridge has been warned by the state to be on the lookout for signs of the bug, a township spokesman told Patch.

"We have not seen any sign of the Emerald," said Woodbridge spokesman John Hagerty. "But our Department of Parks has received information from the State Department of Agriculture, and if we run across this issue, we are required to contact them."

"Parks crews are inspecting trees at our various parks and neighborhoods on a regular basis," he added.

The Emerald Ash Borer was most recently reported in Moorestown, New Jersey in November, 2015. In March of this year, officials there released a dire prediction: In the next 5-8 years, all ash trees in Moorestown may be dead because of the beetle.

The borer has also been spotted in Bridgewater and Hillsdale in 2014 and 2015. The beetle usually lays its eggs in ash trees in the summer, and the bug is so destructive because its larvae eat ash tree wood from the inside out as they grow.

Telltale signs of an infestation are signature S-like squiggles found on the bark of ash trees. It takes two to four years for a tree to die.

“In four years’ time, we will be completely infested in New Jersey,” Wayne Dubin, vice president of the New Jersey Shade Tree Federation told NorthJersey.com. “They will be everywhere.”

Photo of an Emerald Ash Borer released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Second photo is of an ash tree.