After months of alerting residents to the threat of the dreaded emerald ash borer, the pesky little incest has turned up in Glendale Heights, putting the village and residents on notice.

But village officials said they are following the guidelines of the Illinois Department of Agriculture by supporting a quarantine of not taking any branches or wood from the area, and are informing residents who have ash trees to be on the lookout for possible damages to those trees.

The village found out last week that some trees in the privately owned Concord Green Shopping Center near North Avenue and Bloomingdale Road are the first in DuPage County where evidence of the insect has been found this year. Trees damaged by the emerald ash borer have also been found in Kane, LaSalle and Cook County, according to the agriculture department.

Cecelia Sullivan, director of the Glendale Heights Parks and Recreation Department, said an state nursery inspector made the discovery during an inspection after he noticed distressed ash trees in that area and stopped to investigate.

Larvae were collected from trees near the intersection and confirmed the specimens as ash borer larvae, according to the Department of Agriculture.

“Just like in LaSalle County, where an infestation was confirmed (earlier this month), our staff now will survey ash trees in the surrounding area to determine the size of the infestation,” said Chuck Hartke, agriculture director for the Illinois Department of Agriculture. “That information will be helpful as we consider adjustments to the quarantine we established to slow the spread of this destructive pest.”

Sullivan said the insect may have “fallen from a truck” along North Avenue, and that is the only area where any evidence of the borer has been found. There are as many as 3,300 ash trees in the village parkways and public areas, and the agriculture department and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources are handling inspections on trees that show signs of damage, she said.

“We have been alerting residents through our newsletter and our cable access show as to what residents should look for on their own trees,” Sullivan said. “It’s important to note that this only effects ash trees. Maples, oaks and other are not impacted by this.”

The sighting in Glendale Heights also means that the agriculture department is likely to extend a quarantine in the area, Sullivan said.  The quarantine prohibits the intrastate movement of potentially-contaminated wood products, including ash trees, limbs and branches and all types of firewood. Areas currently under quarantine include all of Kane County and parts of northern Cook, western DuPage, northern Kendall and eastern DeKalb counties. In addition, the entire states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan have been also placed under a federal quarantine.

“One of the major helpful things that individuals can do to help reduce the spread of the pest is to use local firewood and do not transport ash products from fresh wood,” said John Church, a natural resources educator with the University of Illinois Extension office in Rockford.

Anyone in the village who suspects a tree has been infested should contact the Glendale Heights Parks and Recreation Department at (630) 260-6060.