Source: Kevin Griffin, HICKORY RECORD, 2/12/20


Last week, Newton resident Will Lail went outside his house one morning to see sections of bark stripped from a tree in his yard. Lail’s first thought was a wild animal was responsible. He’d seen a large wild cat, possibly a bobcat, in his yard a few years ago, and wondered if offspring of the animal might have caused the marks. The culprit turned out to be much smaller: the emerald ash borer, a green beetle that burrows into and feeds on ash trees, ultimately killing them.

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