As ash borers feed on a tree, they can cut off its nutrient flow, which leads to the tree's death.
State officials have confirmed the emerald ash borer -- a small green beetle that feeds almost exclusively on ash trees -- has now been detected in all eight Connecticut counties.
Jack Hale, chair of the Hartford Tree Advisory Commission, said the Ash Borer was first spotted in Keney Park last November.
The insect, which is not native to North America, was first found in 2002 near Detroit, Michigan. Since then, it's since spread to more than 25 states.
As ash borers feed on a tree, they can cut off its nutrient flow, which leads to the tree's death.
Claire Rutledge, with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, said the ash borer was first found in Connecticut in 2012, in northern New Haven County. She said ash trees in that region are now undergoing "serious mortality."
In Hartford, Hale said there are about 10,000 ash trees. He estimated nearly 1,000 a year will be lost due to the insect, which could mean Hartford's population of ash trees is destroyed within a decade.
Across Connecticut, ash trees make up about three percent of the trees in Connecticut forests, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Most ash trees in the state are white ash, which were already threatened by disease prior to the arrival of the emerald ash borer.
Now that the emerald ash borer is here, whether Connecticut's population of ash trees will recover is an open question.
