Our Terry Ettinger tells us about an invasive species that is putting ash trees at high risk.

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Ash trees are under a death threat because of an invasive species.

"The emerald ash borer is going to cause the demise of ash in North America, and it travels around mostly through private people moving firewood," explained Dr. Melissa Fierke, SUNY-ESF.

New York will soon have a new system of fines and penalties for transporting or possessing invasive species, which will range from $200 to $2,000. It’s to prevent movement so importation, possession or purchasing or anything within the horticulture industry or with private people that are moving things around.

However, since there’s no way to completely stop the pest or eradicate it, is this law worth the effort?

"It’s got to help and it’s all we can do, I mean, we have to do something and I think this is really a large step in the right direction to make that happen," added Fierke.

Recently, the emerald ash borer has spread to new locations including Niagara County, Green County and West Point. The situation puts tree-lined city streets at grave risk and officials face a difficult decision.

"Are you going to use the insecticide triage or other compounds and try to save those trees to preserve your urban canopy?," asked Fierke. "Or are you going to be proactive and start pulling some of those trees down and planting something else? So you don’t have 25 trees dead all along the avenue all at once."