Philip Bell

The emerald ash borer already has infested trees in more than 1,200 cities and townships in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, said Philip Bell, the U.S. Department of Agriculture

" /> Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service regional manager for the beetle.

If no action is taken to stop it, the beetle could infest more than 12,000 municipalities from Minnesota to North Carolina by 2027, he told the state Senate environmental and Assembly forestry committees during a joint hearing.

The UDSA hopes to contain the beetle in the Great Lake states and eventually wipe it out, Bell said.Wisconsin remains beetle-free but has been testing for the creature and preparing responses, making the state a great place to make a stand, Bell said.

"We have a grand opportunity to push this thing back," Bell said.

But the committees greeted Bell with skepticism.

State Rep.
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Bell called the incident a wake-up called but said "we got it stopped."

Sen. Neal Kedzie, R-Elkhorn, said he's "sickened" by the thought of losing Wisconsin's ash trees, but doubts the state can stop the beetle.

He questioned spending money to combat it and whether the state should instead "prepare for surrender."

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· Philip Bell, Regional Program Manager, USDA/APHIS

· Philip Bell, Regional Program Manager, USDA/APHIS

"I went out to the site on Monday," said Philip Bell, U.S. Department of Agriculture emerald ash borer manager.

> Phillip Bell, program director for the emerald ash borer for the United States Department of Agriculture, spent the evening in the back of the crowd to get an idea of people,s opinions.

,Anytime you move trees out of a woodlot, it doesn,t destroy it, but it changes it,, Bell said. ,They,re losing something, and no one wants to lose trees.,

He said that meetings like this help people understand the bigger picture.

,It would be good if everyone could go down to Wayne County,, he said. ,All the ash trees there are dead.