Another bug appears to be on its way to Kentucky forests.

The Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet is worried about the Emerald ash borer, an introduced insect pest. The cabinet reports the borer has reached trees just north of Cincinnati since it was first found in the U.S. in 2002 in Detroit.

“The borer is in five states -- Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Maryland -- and Ontario, Canada, and more than 20 million ash trees have been killed in these infested areas,” the cabinet reports in the latest issue of it's magazine “Land, Air and Water.”

Believed to have reached the U.S. in wooden packing crates from Asia, the borer “is spreading quickly because it has no predators.”

The report blames ash logs being transported from infested areas, especially in firewood, for the fast spread southward.

To stop the infestation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has banned ash wood and products into and within the states of Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. The quarantine went into effect in December.

So far, Kentucky has been spared, but the cabinet expects the Emerald borer to enter the state in the near future.

“The impact could be environmentally and economically devastating,” the cabinet reports. “There are about 223 million ash trees growing in the commonwealth, and the ash logs are sold for sawlogs, veneer logs, rough and grade lumber, pallet lumber, furniture squares, drumstick blanks and tool handles.”

The borer is a small, one-half inch long emerald green beetle that flies in late spring through summer. The killing damage is done by the white larval stage located under the bark. Ash species attacked are green, white, blue and black.

Symptoms of an infection include 2- to 5-inch splits in the bark, S-shaped larval galleries in the wood just under the bark and small D-shaped exit holes in the bark. Trees can be infested for several years, however, before these signs appear. Die-back of branches is an indication of possible infestation, the report continued.

The State Department of Forestry conducted studies in Northern Kentucky last year, but found no infestation, but the study will continue in 2007 targeting the I-75 and I-65 corridors, plus several campgrounds across the state.