Public Can Weigh In as Maine Considers Ending Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine.
Jul 30, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Bar Harbor Historical Society.
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND—After expanding a quarantine earlier this year that is meant to help stop the spread of the invasive emerald ash borer, the state now wants to end the quarantine inspired by the destructive beetle, whose presence continues to spread throughout the state.
“The reality is that we knew all along that it would come to this eventually, that there was no way for us to stop it,” Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry horticulturist Gary Fish told Maine Public.
Ella McDonald of Ash Protection Collaboration Across Waponahkik (APCAW) said in an email, “When APCAW lab members found out that the ME-DACF was thinking about repealing the quarantine back in April, Tribal Nations and APCAW submitted a letter stating our position that the DACF should not repeal the quarantine.”
“Our First Nations, State, Federal, and nongovernmental partners have been working collectively for 20 years to understand and mitigate ash health issues through the Brown Ash Task Force, including emerald ash borer (EAB) and climate change. APCAW continues and amplifies this work by identifying research-informed strategies to protect brown ash that align with Wabanaki priorities and current research,” according to APCAW’s website.
McDonald argues that the quarantine still protects approximately “78% ash basal area that is still thriving in towns where EAB has not been detected,” and is urging others to submit comment to the state against the proposed repeal.
If the quarantine is lifted the state will focus its resources on education and tracking.
People initially noticed the beetle in Maine back in 2018. A quarantine began in 2019. The quarantine focuses on not allowing timber transportation (including firewood) outside quarantined areas.
Mount Desert Island is currently a quarantined area. It hosts scores of visitors each summer.
Fish told Maine Public that the state believes that firewood that is infested is the “prime cause of the spreading problem.”
In early 2025, local arborist Jamie Lambert drove down the Indian Point Road in Bar Harbor and noticed the trees were blonding.
It’s the kind of sight that makes an arborist stop his vehicle, which is exactly what Lambert did.
Blonding is when the woodpeckers start to remove the outer bark of the tree to go after an insect’s larvae and pupae, so Lambert stopped to confirm what he thought might be happening under the surface of those ash trees: emerald ash borer infiltration. He checked the trees and told the state.
The state confirmed what Lambert, the local manager and arborist representative at Bartlett Tree Experts in Mount Desert, feared.
The emerald ash borer was definitely in the Town Hill trees.
The beetles are invasive. So much so that just since the beginning of 2026, there’s been detections in 16 new Maine municipalities: Bangor, Benedicta Twp, Benton, Bowdoinham, Buckfield, Dixfield, Greenwood, Harpswell, Hartford, Palermo, Rumford, Stockholm, Sumner, Topsham, West Paris, and Wilton.
According to APCAW, “Brown ash is known in Wabanaki languages as wikp (Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey), wíkəpi (Penobscot), or wisqoq (Mi’kmaq). In most translations, these words mean ‘basket tree’ as this tree is used for basket making. Brown ash is interwoven with Wabanaki community identity and spirituality. Part of APCAW’s work is to center, protect, and restore relationships between Wabanaki peoples and ash ecosystems.
“Basketmakers and researchers alike are concerned what the loss of ash trees will mean for ecosystems. Ash trees serve major ecological functions by supporting an array of fungal biodiversity and host 98 species of specialized invertebrates. Brown ash specifically plays a highly influential role in regulating hydrology and supplying nutrient-rich leaf litter for surrounding food webs.”
In late April, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry expanded the emerald ash borer (EAB) quarantine in Maine.
Since that expansion the borer was found in Franklin County, in Wilton, and—for the first time—in Bangor. The city has a response plan to manage the impacts of emerald ash borer on the city’s trees.
Despite the quarantine, the beetle continues to travel about the state and threatens to decimate Maine’s native ash trees. Typically, trees die within five years of the beetles infiltration. The beetles tunnel into the wood.
You can let the state know If you suspect EAB via maine.gov/eab.
The website features reporting tools, and an interactive map with EAB detections and quarantine boundaries.
HOW TO MAKE PUBLIC COMMENT:
Public comment can be submitted verbally or in written form. It can be shared verbally at these upcoming public hearings:
- August 18, 2026, 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM, at the Maine Potato Board Conference Room, 744 Main St #1, Presque Isle, ME 04769 and a simultaneous virtual option on Microsoft Teams
- August 18, 2026, 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, at the Maine Forest Service, Central Region Headquarters, 87 Forestry Way, Old Town, ME 04468 with a simultaneous virtual option on Microsoft Teams
Written comment can be submitted by emailing Gary Fish at gary.fish@maine.gov or sent by mail to Gary Fish, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Plant Health Programs, 28 SHS, Augusta, ME 04333-0028. The deadline to submit a written comment is August 28, 2026, at 5:00 PM.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
State Expands Ash Borer Quarantine.
May 8
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/vJQk4uaSYxk?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0
For more information and updated quarantine maps, visit maine.gov/eab and these resources:
- Bartlett Tree Experts.
- Eagle ArboricultureEmerald ash borer interactive map (ESRI).
- Last Stand: Wabanaki Basketry and the Emerald Ash Borer.
- They Carry Us With Them: The Great Tree Migration.
- Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik.
- Basket Trees of the Dawnland
- Winter ash ID (YouTube).
- Scouting for Emerald Ash Borer (YouTube).
- UMaine’s Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik (APCAW) network.
- UMaine story about emerald ash borers.
- Abbe Museum.
For more information on the emerald ash borer, quarantine zones around the state and methods to protect your property, visit the state’s dashboard.
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