OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha city park workers and volunteers plan to wrap ash trees throughout the city to help raise awareness of the emerald ash borer threat.

The Omaha Parks Foundation and City of Omaha Forestry Division will work with volunteers on the effort.

Following a news conference Saturday in Seymour Smith Park, volunteers will spread out through the park, Abbot Drive, Memorial and Elmwood Parks, Regency Parkway and Ramble Ridge Park, where they will wrap nearly 1,000 ash trees on city rights of way and parkland over a week.

Emerald ash borers are native to Asia and were first detected in Michigan in 2002. Authorities have said the insect has killed more than 50 million ash trees since in the United States and have been found in at least 20 states.