Updated: 11/18/2009 12:51 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email

Emerald Ash Borer Spreads in Minn.

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) - Emerald ash borers have spread to a second Minnesota city since the tree pest was discovered in the state last spring.

State agriculture officials say larvae of emerald ash borers were discovered Tuesday under the bark of an ash tree in Falcon Heights, on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus.

The site is a mile north of a neighborhood in St. Paul, where infested trees were cut down after emerald ash borers were discovered in May.

The metallic green beetles have killed tens of millions of trees in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and other Midwestern states. Minnesota officials say ash borers apparently reached St. Paul in 2006 and now threaten to devastate Minnesota's estimated 900 million ash trees.

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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)