The emerald ash borer appears to be making inroads in New York State, after yet another discovery of the highly destructive critters in the Catskills region.

State authorities are stepping up their campaign to alert New Yorkers to the dangers of the emerald ash borer.A state Department of Environmental Conservation employee recovered one specimen inside a trap set in the Kenneth L. Wilson campground in the Catskill Forest Preserve in Woodstock in Ulster County, the agency announced.

The emerald ash borer is a small but destructive beetle that infests and kills North American ash tree species, including green, white, black, and blue ash. The first detection of this alien pest in New York was in Randolph, in Cattaraugus County, in June 2009. Since then, infestations have been discovered in seven other counties in Western New York and five in the Hudson Valley. Nineteen counties in New York are under state and federal EAB quarantines.

Since it was first discovered in Michigan in 2002, the ash borer has caused the destruction of 70 million trees in the United States. New York has more than 900 million ash trees, representing about seven percent of all trees in the state, and all are at risk. State authorities are urging residents to watch for signs of infestation in ash trees and to not bring any untreated firewood to campgrounds in the Catskills region.

To learn more about the ash borer and the firewood regulations, or to report suspected EAB damage, call DEC's EAB hotline at 1-866-640-0652 or submit an EAB report on DEC's website.