Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week is May 15th to 22nd!

EAB Awareness Week is a great opportunity to educate people in your city or town about the threat of emerald ash borer to Vermont’s ash trees, and the important steps residents and businesses can take to slow the spread and help your municipality respond.

Vermont’s Urban and Community Forestry Program (UCF) team has put together seven EAB Awareness Community Kits. In order to broaden the dissemination of information abiout EAB, we will provide community kits to the first seven municipalities that apply who have not yet received kits. We are asking each applying town to have a publicity plan for promoting EAB Awareness Week (see ideas below).  In addition, UCF will also promote your town's events on our social media.

Each EAB Awareness Community Kit contains:

• 35 11x17 “What is this Ash Tree Worth to You?” laminated signs to tie to ash trees in your community 
• 2 rolls purple flagging tape to attach the tags to ash trees
• EAB posters and literature to put in your library or town offices
• 2 laminated Trailhead signs with EAB signs and symptoms
• A guide on how to lead an ash identification walk
• EAB Identification Wallet Cards
• Don’t Move Firewood Stickers

Publicity Plan Ideas

• Run a story in your local paper or radio station
• Host an EAB Awareness Table at the Farmers Market or Drop-Off Station
• Host a “Don’t Move Firewood” Coloring Page Contest with your local newspaper, and display the submitted pages on the windows of a local store front, post office, or town office.
• Post events on your community Facebook Page and Front Porch Forum
• Your ideas- the sky is the limit!
• More ideas and instructions on activities can be found here on VTInvasives.org

Timeline of Activities

• By May 1: winning municipalities will receive EAB Awareness Community Kits
• By May 15: Your team tags local ash trees and sends in photos, and a couple sentences about your EAB Awareness event(s), including the number and location (e.g. neighborhood, street or park) of ash trees tagged
• May 15 – 22: UCF will highlight one town each day of the week on UCF Facebook page.
• We ask that your team remember to remove the purple flagging and signs after your event is over.

To apply: send an email to Ginger.Nickerson@uvm.edu

Subject Line: EAB Community Kit Application

Please include in your email:

• Name of municipality
• Name(s) of people leading the tree tagging event
• A brief description of your publicity plan (see ideas above)
• Address to which we should mail the EAB Awareness Community Kit

The EAB Community Kits will be distributed on a first come, first served basis to towns that have not yet received a kit. Get your application in today!