Two people in Vancouver, Washington, noticed something small and metallic-green clinging to their windshield on Aug.
20, making it Washington's first verified detection of emerald ash borer, according to the MyNorthwest report on the confirmation.
Heavy woodpecker damage on an ash tree, chasing larvae beneath the bark, is often the first clue homeowners notice, well before the canopy itself begins to thin and die back.
That is the same mechanism blamed for the beetle's spread outward from its original Midwest foothold over the past two decades.
The State's Playbook: Removal, Replacement, and No Cure There is no way to eradicate emerald ash borer once it establishes a self-sustaining population in an area, a fact every agency involved has been direct about.
A windshield sighting in Vancouver led to Washington's first confirmed emerald ash borer detection, triggering a statewide firewood quarantine and a race to protect Puget Sound's ornamental ash trees before the beetle spreads.