Beetle Detectives HQ

With 20 reports submitted so far, Pennsylvania’s Shreiner Tree Care has taken the lead among our Beetle Detectives.  Can they stay on top?  Stay tuned ….

Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Forest Service insect experts will lead what's known as a "bark-peeling" workshop aimed at finding evidence of tree-killing bugs.

Using a method reminiscent of an old-fashioned husking bee, entomologists will hold two bark-peeling workshops on Tuesday and again on Jan. 24 to look for evidence of the emerald ash borer, an invasive insect threatening Maine's forests.

Ash-tree owners from central Maine, who earlier this year created tree traps to look for the borers, will bring wood samples to the workshops, where they'll be peeled by volunteers and examined for signs of the insect.

The emerald ash borer has killed millions of ash trees across the nation and threatens all of those in Maine, from backyard shade trees to stands of white, green and black ash in the forests.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/687c20be6d0a4b3e8241640aa4ef5123/ME--Bark-Peeling/

By Robert Ford

When digging for treasure, X usually marks the spot. But for ash trees along the Saugerties Beach on the Esopus Creek, a white X in spray paint means death. Three grand old trees will be cut down by Central Hudson this week because they’re infested with the emerald ash borer, an iridescent Asian beetle scientists expect will eventually destroy all North American ash trees not inoculated with expensive pesticides.

The borers were first discovered in Ulster County in 2010 on a West Saugerties campground. Saugerties has already cut down and burned eight trees found at the village’s Seamon Park and the 187-acre Esopus Bend Preserve. George Terpening, village of Saugerties superintendent of Parks, Buildings and Grounds, said three trees along the beach would be cut down and burned next week, with the assistance of Central Hudson.

“The three are located near Central Hudson’s power lines and they said they would come in and take them down for us,” Terpening said.

The ash borer is an Asian beetle first discovered in the United States in 2002 in southeastern Michigan and north in Windsor, Ontario. It’s native to eastern Russia, northern China, Japan, and Korea, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

While unsure of exactly how the beetle made it into the states, scientists believe that it “traveled in ash wood used for stabilizing cargo in ships or for packing consumer product,” according to the DEC.

The beetle loves ash trees, and it is its larvae stage that does all the damage, feeding under the bark of the trees, which cuts off the trees’ flow of water and nutrients. Trees usually die within two to four years after infestation.

A fully grown beetle doesn’t fly very far, about ½ mile from the tree where they grew up, so the DEC thinks they got into New York State and the 14 other states that suffer from EAB infestation through the transportation of firewood or through young trees destined for nurseries.

In New York State, EABs have been found in a number of counties including Ulster, Orange, and Greene and a number of counties in the western and northern parts of the state.

Last year, the village conducted an inventory of its trees to identify how many ash trees there are, but it has yet to be completed, and a hoped-for plan on how to deal with the beetles has yet to be worked out. Until then, Terpening and his crew are doing it “one tree at a time.”

Based on the current rate of infestation in Saugerties and New York State, Terpening doesn’t hold out much hope for the future of the North American Ash tree, saying he doesn’t expect to see many ash trees in five years.

He says that he believes the way that Dutch elm disease wiped out Elm trees during the 1950s, the Emerald Ash Borer might bring the same fate to ash trees.

For more information about the emerald ash borer, visit the village’s website at www.village,saugerties.ny.us, where there is a phone number to report infested trees to, or go to the state DEC’s website at www.dec.ny.gov where there is information on the state’s attempts through a ban on firewood transportation to halt the spread of the deadly beetle.

http://www.saugertiesx.com/2012/01/14/ash-borer-spoils-saugerties-trees/

By Chris Hubbuch | chubbuch@lacrossetribune.com lacrossetribune.com | Posted: Monday, August 22, 2011 11:00 am

Wisconsin authorities have confirmed the presence of the invasive emerald ash borer in La Crosse County, which will result in a quarantine on firewood and lumber.

Six adult beetles were discovered Wednesday about a mile east of La Crosse in the town of Medary, according to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

The insects, recovered during a routine inspection of traps, were sent to a federal scientist in Michigan for confirmation, a procedure followed for all discoveries of the emerald ash borer in new counties, said DATCP spokesman Mick Skwarock.

Skwarock said DATCP will issue a quarantine order likely in the next several days for La Crosse County and possibly neighboring counties. That will limit the movement of hardwood from the county, though loggers and lumber mills can continue harvesting and processing ash during certain times of the year with a compliance agreement.

The primary impact of the quarantine is on firewood, which forestry officials say is the primary threat for moving the insects.

La Crosse is the ninth Wisconsin county with a confirmed ash borer infestation. The insects are also known to be in Crawford and Vernon counties as well as Minnesota's Houston County. Crawford and Vernon are among the counties now under quarantine.

Forestry officials estimate ash trees comprise less than 10 percent of the trees in La Crosse County forest land, though concentrations are higher in river bottoms. Ash trees account for as much as a quarter of the trees in urban areas.

Copyright 2011 lacrossetribune.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Posted in Local on Monday, August 22, 2011 11:00 am Updated: 7:58 am.

Read more: http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_165a42d8-ccd4-11e0-91ce-001cc4c03286.html