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== 2 of 5 ==
Date: Thurs, Aug 7 2008 2:45 pm
From: Elisa Campbell
bad news:
Tree-devouring Asian beetle found in Worcester
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2008/08/treedevouring_asian_beetle_fou.html
By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Boston Globe Staff
Shiny, spotted Asian beetles that attack hardwood trees and have
been
called potentially more destructive than Dutch elm disease, chestnut
blight, and gypsy moths combined have been found in Worcester.
An investigation is ongoing and preliminary, but as many as 15 trees
in
the northwest part of the city have been confirmed as infested with
the
Asian Longhorned Beetle.
Now, federal, state, and local officials are working on a more
complete
survey of a quarantine area with a 1.5-mile radius.
"This is a voracious insect; it really has a potential to be
very
damaging," Suzanne Bond, a spokeswoman for the US Department of
Agriculture, said today. " It destroys a number of species of
hardwood
trees, and maples are a perferred species. ... It really has a
potential
to damage a number of industries if it were allowed to spread
unchecked
-- maple syrup, lumber, tourism."
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at the USDA has said
that
if the invasive species is able to become established in the United
States, it could wreak more havoc than other major tree diseases and
pests.
A preliminary assessment indicates that the beetle may have been in
the
area for five years, according to Worcester city manager Michael
O'Brien. The beetle is known to travel in wood packing materials
used to
transport goods from Asia, and the Worcester infestation is the
fourth
reported in the United States. The beetle has also been found in
Chicago, the New York area, and New Jersey.
To eradicate the beetle, officials will have to cut down infested
trees
and grind or burn them. In Chicago, 1,550 infested trees were
removed.
In the New York area, 6,200 infested trees were removed, and in New
Jersey, more than 700 were removed.
http://www.umassgreeninfo.org/fact_sheets/wood_attackers/asian_longhorned_beetle.html
== 3 of 5 ==
Date: Thurs, Aug 7 2008 3:05 pm
From:
I can meet or beat that.
Aug. 1, emerald ash borer was found just north of Milwaukee in
Wisconsin. It was located adjacent to a county line so it is being
reported as being in two counties and probably have been there 2-3
years. They are currently surveying the distribution of the
infestation here.
EAB has never been stopped in the U.S. However, the Wisconsin DNR is
going to use pesticides instead of just cutting everything down like
the other states have done so far. They will be using Bayer Merit 2F
(Imidacloprid) soil drench, Safari 20 SG trunk spray, and Syngenta
Tree-age tree injection.
EAB spreads rapidly and flies long distances. Asian Longhorns are
lazy and only fly as far as they have to fly to get to food. So far,
I believe that all ALB infestations in the U.S. have been
successfully eradicated.
Paul Jost
== 4 of 5 ==
Date: Thurs, Aug 7 2008 3:29 pm
From: Lee Frelich
Paul:
I was in Milwaukee for the Ecological Society of America annual
meeting
when the headline announcement that emerald ash borer was found in
the area
appeared in the Milwaukee Journal. It made quite a stir, especially
after
the keynote speechs by Lord Robert May (former science advisor to
the Prime
Minister of Great Britain) and Robert Lovejoy about global warming
and its
potential impacts and interactions with invasive species (and I
thought my
speech on the topic was negative!).
If I remember right Wisconsin has about 700 million ash trees, and
Minnesota a similar number.
Asian Long-horned beetle does represent the biggest threat among the
recently introduced diseases and pests of trees, because it could
take out
the maples and aspens, which are far more numerous and important
components
of the forest in the northeast quadrant of the U.S. However, so far
we have
been able to contain it, but I am only moderately optimistic that we
will
be able to continue to do so in the future. All it will take is for
one
person to carry infested wood into a forested area and the
infestation
there not be noticed for a few years, and the population will reach
an
unstopable level.
It will be difficult to notice any new infestations in early stages
in
rural areas because the landscape of the Midwest is so full of dead
trees
from the droughts of the last few years, combined with the impacts
of
exotic earthworms, and the two huge derechos of the last two weeks.
There
is so much mortality across the landscape at this point that a few
dead
trees from an invading insect pest will hardly be noticed in the
early
stages when they could be eradicated.
Lee
== 5 of 5 ==
Date: Thurs, Aug 7 2008 4:28 pm
From: ForestRuss@aol.com
Lee:
I share your forest health concerns.
We have EAB in Fayette County, WV and traps all over the central WV
countryside trying to measure the spread so that ash log transport
can be quarantined.
ALB is a real concern to commercial forestry in the Appalachians
because
yellow poplar and all the soft hardwoods...red and sugar maple,
yellow poplar,
basswood and cucumber magnolia are extremely high on its favorite
lunch list.
With the arrival of EAB in West Virginia combined with hotter
summers and
snow-less winters and the spread of extremely aggressive invasive
plants like
Japanese stiltgrass and garlic mustard, I have great concerns for
what will
become of the forest floor, and subsequently the Appalachian
hardwood forest
when the gaps in the canopy created by the death of 4% of the trees
in the
region converge over the next few years providing optimal turf for
alien plant
invasion.
There are indeed dire times for the forest and probably why I enjoy
ENTS so
much...people sharing the wonder of the woods that is, but might not
one day
be...discussed and described with an air of awe combined with
reverence that
a strictly scientific discussion group could never appreciate.
Russ
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Asian Longhorned Beetle
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/769f8819227517dd?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Tues, Aug 19 2008 12:25 pm
From: "Heidi Ricci"
As many of you may have heard by now, the Asian Longhorned Beetle
has
been found in Worcester, MA. APHIS and the state are coordinating
response to this infestation.
http://massnrc.org/pests/linkeddocuments/pestalerts/ALB_Aug2008.htm
E. Heidi Ricci
Senior Policy Analyst
Mass Audubon
208 South Great Road
Lincoln, MA 01773
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Really, Really Bad News: Asian Longhorned Beetle
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/21a781bb761d0f38?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Oct 22 2008 5:46 pm
From: "Josh Kelly"
From the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Beetle-Battle.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin
The chances of controlling a 62 square mile infested area seem slim.
Now is
the time for some apocalyptic predictions from Lee.
Josh
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