June is Invasive Species Awareness Month as proclaimed by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, a month set aside for awareness of invasive plants and animals, and the options available to help deter them. Iowa Department of Natural Resources Forest Health Program Leader Tivon Feeley tells KNIA News the most popular of invasive species is the Emerald Ash Borer, which affects all but four of Iowa’s counties currently, and destroys ash trees over the course of several years.

“It takes about six to seven years after that initial find of the Emerald Ash Borer to start seeing all of the mortality of the trees, and we are just hitting that now for most of central Iowa and we are just going to get there in a couple of years for western Iowa. So unfortunately this is still around and I’m getting a lot of calls about dead or dying ash trees.”

Feeley was recently featured on In Depth with Dr. Bob Leonard. To listen to the full interview click below.

https://www.kniakrls.com/2022/05/26/in-depth-invasive-species-awareness-month/