03/31/2007

Store may have offered ash

By VICTOR SKINNER

vskinner@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — A local building-supply megastore could face fines after state authorities allege the store illegally attempted to sell ash trees.

Menards Inc. in Traverse City was charged this week with a misdemeanor for allegedly violating Michigan's ash tree quarantine by offering five live ash trees for sale June 5, 2006, records show.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture initiated the ash tree quarantine in 2002 in an effort to halt the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer, a non-native beetle that eats and kills the trees.

Menards Inc. spokesperson Jeff Abbott wouldn't comment on the charge, but offered a brief statement.

"Menards discovered a shipping error caused by a ... vendor that mistakenly caused a small amount of ash trees to ship to a northern Michigan store,” the statement read. "Regrettably, the mistake did happen, but to the best of my knowledge no trees were sold and the mistake was caught and the trees were transported back to the vendor.”

Menards' vendor since has been "fined heavily and put on sanctions” by the store's internal compliance department, according to the statement.

State agriculture department officials would not comment on the specifics of the Menards complaint because of pending litigation, but said the trees were discovered during a routine inspection.

Ken Rauscher, division director of MDA's Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Program, said it has been illegal to sell ash trees in Michigan for years.

"The ban on the sale of ash trees has been in effect since August of 2003,” he said. "We do not certify ash trees for movement and we do not allow the sale or movement of ash trees.”

Menards will be charged with either an insect, plant and pest violation, or a nursery stock violation, depending on how the county prosecutor interprets the law. Those violations have fines of $1,000 to $10,000 or $25 to $100 respectively, court officials said.

The Asian beetle, also known as the Green Menace, has killed millions of the state's ash trees since it was first discovered in southeast Michigan in 2002. The quarantine, which initially included only five counties in southeast Michigan, now covers the entire Lower Peninsula.