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Cheyenne Botanic Gardens[/caption]City of Cheyenne Urban Forestry officials are growing increasingly concerned about the future arrival of an insect that has decimated millions of ash trees in other parts of the country.

Assistant Director Mark Ellison says the emerald ash borer has been identified in Boulder, Colorado. He adds that although it's not clear when the bug will hit the Cheyenne area, it's probably just a matter of time.

Ellison says since the borer was first found in Michigan in the early 2000s, it has laid waste to thousand of acres of the trees as it made it's way across the country.

Experts are predicting the disease will be even more destructive than the devastation caused by Dutch Elm Disease.

Local officials are watching closely for the borer, and Ellison says they will issue an alert when it gets close to Cheyenne. Once it arrives, sprays are available to combat the pest, but, for now, the best thing tree owners can do is make sure their trees are in the best possible condition to survive an attack by the pest.

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