ALB news and info

[Dan F]

This thread is for Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) news and info.

If you have news or info, please post it! Questions or comments, post them on the thread marked "reply here".

Heres the first article (beginning commentary is from someone in Chicago):
--------------
Canada is removing all host trees within at least 400m of an infested tree, may go out to 800m (1/2 mile)...they are still debating final distance pending pesticide approval. Thus they will be removing 10,000 plus trees. If we did that in Chicago, we would have removed 55,000 trees as compared to the 1463 infested trees we did remove over the past 6 years. They are trying to get approval for imidacloprid, however, Canadians are very against pesticide use. They are trying to be a pesticide free society especially in urban areas. Their main core area is a suburban-like light industrial park with lawn areas and smaller to medium sized maples spaced far apart. They do have natural ravines with large number of host trees that are of great concern to them. Some more mature neighborhoods with numerous old trees are on the fringes and the citizens are very concerned about the perceived "clear cut" in their back yards.


First trees cut in T.O. longhorned beetle fight
CTV.ca News Staff

A fight to save Canada's national symbolis being waged in Toronto. The first maple trees in the city's northwestwere cut down today, as part of the effort to eradicate an infestation ofthe Asian longhorned beetle.

Described as a ruthless pest that attacks and kills hardwood trees, theanoplophora glabripennis, better known as the longhorned beetle, is believedto have arrived in the Toronto area aboard a shipping crate from Asia.

Since then, it's been burrowing its way into maple trees and threatening to spread to the countless trees in central Ontario's hardwood forests.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Howard Stanley says the beetle posesno threat to public health. But without any natural predators in North America,it could spread quickly and ultimately touch a lot of lives throughout theprovince.

"It threatens the hardwood industry in reference to such industries asthe nursery landscape trade, the maple syrup industry, parks and recreation-- which impacts tourism," Stanley told CTV's Toronto affiliate CFTO News.

Aiming to chop those problems down before they grow, the CFIA is leadingthe campaign to cut trees in a six square kilometre area where the beetleswere first discovered this summer.

In the first stage of their attack, trees on public property will be cutdown, slowly and carefully, so that inspectors can determine the extent ofthe bug's presence in the neighbourhood.

Though many of the adult beetles died when the city experienced its firstfrost in October, officials say active larvae are still lurking inside manyof the trees.

The results of examining the trees cut down Thursday will reveal justhow active the population is, and point to how many trees will need to becut on residential property.

By the time their effort to stop the beetle's spread is over, officials expect to cut down close to 10,000 trees.

Meanwhile, thousands of ash trees in southwestern Ontario could be destroyed because of a bug called the emerald ash borer.

Federal officials say it is spreading in the area.

The insect has been found in two patches of trees near Tilbury and Merlin, the first time it has advanced east of Essex County.

 

[Dan F]

It's been a while since I've gotten anything on ALB, but this is the most recent.

---------------------
ASIAN LONGHORNED BEETLE PROGRAM UPDATE STORY
By John T. Dodd, USDA-APHIS Legislative and Public Affairs

The United States is winning the war to eradicate the Asian longhorned beetle from the country, due to the ongoing efforts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Asian Longhorned Beetle Cooperative Eradication Program. Because of this program, a quarantine was recently lifted from two areas in Illinois after intensive survey and inspections revealed that an ALB threat no longer exists there.
Numerous sightings of the ALB have been reported since its initial discovery in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., in August 1996.
The ALB was spotted in Chicago in July 1998, by a city parks employee who stopped to pick up cut wood from a friend?s house in the Ravenswood neighborhood.
In October 2002, the president of a New Jersey based graphics design group, spotted the ALB flying onto a tree in Jersey City, N.J. This discovery marked the first time since 1998 that the invasive exotic pest had been discovered outside the quarantined regions of Illinois and New York.
In the past decade Asian longhorned beetles has been found inside warehouses in: Hawthorne, Los Angeles, and South Gate, Calf.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Martin Grove, Ill.; Indianapolis and Porter counties, Ind.; Lansing and Warren, Mich.; Linden, N.J.; Jamestown and Rochester, N.Y.; Charlotte, N.C.; Cincinnati, Ohio, Lycoming County and Sinking Springs, Penn.; Charleston, S.C.; Bellingham and Seattle, Wash.; Sauk County, Wis.; and most recently in Houston, Texas, and Mobile, Ala.
The ALB is not limited to attacking the United States; this devastating pest is known to exist in Europe and was recently discovered, in September 2003, near Toronto, Canada.
The ALB, native to China, is a voracious pest of our nation's deciduous hardwood forests and urban landscape. It deposits its eggs into healthy hardwood trees; after hatching, the developing ALB feeds on living tree tissue during the larval stage. Later, throughout the summer, adult beetles emerge from exit holes and briefly feed on the small twigs of host trees.
To fight this destructive pest, agriculture officials have removed and destroyed more than 8,900 infested trees in New York, New Jersey and Illinois and replaced them with more than 7,570 non-host trees.
The ALB attacks many different hardwood trees including: all species of maple, birch, horse chestnut, poplar, willow, elm, ash, mimosa, (silk tree) hackberry, London plane and mountain ash.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, 35 percent of the canopy cover in urban areas throughout North America could be at risk to an infestation by the ALB. This is approximately 1.2 billion susceptible host trees. Potentially, this could add up to $669 billion in losses if the ALB were to reach the urban and suburban forests of North America.
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior?s Bureau of Land Management officials are working with state and local governments to find methods to eradicate the ALB from the infested areas of New York, New Jersey and Illinois.
One method currently in use is the treatment of susceptible trees within the infested areas of New York, New Jersey and Illinois with the insecticide imidacloprid, which has displayed promising results.
Trees are treated and monitored by project officials and administered, as appropriate, by either injecting the insecticide into the tree through small capsules placed at the base of the tree or by injecting the insecticide into the soil surrounding the tree. The insecticide is dispersed throughout the tree through its vascular system. This enables the insecticide to reach Asian longhorned beetle adults as they feed on small twigs and the larvae as they feed beneath the bark of host trees. Imidacloprid is currently used in some store-bought lawn and garden products, in some domestic pet treatments to kill fleas and by some lawn service companies to kill lawn grubs.
USDA's APHIS officials are optimistic that using imidacloprid will decrease beetle populations and future tree loss but advise that, if a tree is found to be infested, it will be removed regardless of treatment. The goal must be to eradicate this highly destructive insect from the United States.
Inspectors continue to use innovative methods to conduct ALB surveys. Trained professionals perform aerial tree inspections using bucket trucks and U. S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior?s Bureau of Land Management smokejumpers (forest firefighters) to climb trees in difficult areas. Ground observations involve the participation of many interest groups and organizations; however, anyone with a keen eye and a set of binoculars can contribute to this effort.

Through the intensive survey process, any tree discovered to be infested, will be cut down and removed. The U.S. Forest Service, working with Sate and local governments, are reforesting communities where the ALB has forced authorities to cut down trees. Trees that are not susceptible to the ALB are being used for replanting.
Residents are asked not to move USDA regulated articles out of the quarantine areas in New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Movement of these articles can unintentionally increase the speed or spread of an infestation. Articles include firewood (all hardwood species), green lumber and other wood materials living, dead, cut or fallen, including nursery stock, logs, stumps, roots, branches and debris of half an inch or more in diameter of many common urban and forest trees.
The Asian Longhorned Beetle Cooperative Eradication Program, comprised of USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of the Interior?s Bureau of Land Management, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, City of New York Parks and Recreation, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Illinois Department of Agriculture, Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, Chicago Bureau of Forestry, New Jersey Department of Agriculture and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, together with local residents are working diligently to halt the spread of this devastating pest.



The war to eradicate ALB from the United States is being won, but it?s not over. In order to be completely successful, the ALB eradication efforts must have the cooperation of everyone. You can assist in eradicating ALB from the United States by looking for this destructive beetle and report any sighting. To report a sighting of the ALB, please call toll free (866) 265-0301 in New York; (866) 233-8531 in New Jersey; (800) 641-3934 in Illinois.
For more information, visit the APHIS Web site at www.aphis.usda.gov and click on Asian longhorned beetle under ?Hot Issues.?

 

[Dan F]

News release will follow in the next post.

---------------------------------
Please see attached press release. Note that Two Suburban Quarantines
(near Addison and in Summit) will be dropped in the coming months. The below radio rerport missed that.


Beetle Tree Quarantine Zone Enlarged

Friday, January 30, 2004, 8:00 a.m.

WBBM Radio

(Chicago) -- The state on Thursday extended a North Side tree-quarantine
zone by 6.7 square miles because of a single Asian Longhorned Beetle found
on a lamppost at Lincoln and Webster avenues last fall.

Someone on Oct. 8 noticed the insect on the northwest corner in the
Ravenswood neighborhood, near Oz Park, and called city officials. A team
of city, state and federal experts then found three trees that were believed to
have housed the stray beetle.

A crew from the Streets and Sanitation Department's Bureau of Forestry picked up the insect, and authorities later confirmed that it belonged to the tree-boring species that has caused millions of dollars of damage in New
York City and Chicago. The tree was cut down in late November.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture said in a news release Thursday that the Ravenswood quarantine area is now bounded on the south by Chicago
Avenue, on the west by Damen Avenue, on the north by Diversey Avenue, and on the east by Lake Michigan.

The quarantine bars the removal of any Asian Longhorned Beetle "host material," such as nursery stock, green lumber, stumps, tree roots,
branches, and tree debris of at least half an inch in size.

The beetles are jet black with white spots, they are one to two inches
long, and their antennae are nearly as long as the body.

The host species of trees include maple, horse chestnut, poplar, willow,
elm, birch, ash, hackberry, mountain ash, London plane, and mimosa, also
known as silk tree. The beetles are dormant in winter, and extending
the quarantine area was expected to keep any of the remaining beetles from
hitching a ride to new neighborhoods.

Residents should look for telltale signs of beetle infestation such dime-sized holes in trees or sawdust at the base of the tree or on top of branches. If you notice signs of tree boring, call the hotline at 1-800-641-3934.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture said a public-information meeting
would be held in each quarantine zone in mid-February.

A U.S. Departments of Agriculture surveyor in November found an
apparent beetle exit hole in an American elm at 2002 N. Cleveland St., a block from the light pole where the beetle was discovered more than a month before. This tree and a nearby silver maple that showed "early signs of infestation," but no exit holes, were then cut down.

The six-legged intruders were believed to have come to the United States
on wooden pallets from China. Chicago waged all-out war against the beetle
when they were discovered in the city in 1998, and relatively few were found
in 1999.

The city that year cut down more than 1,400 trees and established two
quarantine zones covering much of the northern half of Chicago. The city
also "inoculated" thousands of trees with an anti-beetle chemical. Four
other quarantine zones were established in the suburbs, including
Addison and Des Plaines. But a few of the insects apparently managed to escape.

Since then, only one beetle had been found in the city per year, Streets
and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez has said. In July 2002, an Asian longhorn was found by a woman walking her dog near 3510 N. Lakewood Av.

 

[Dan F]

Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor $ Chuck Hartke, Director


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Chris Herbert
January 29, 2004 217-557-5678
Jeff Squibb 217-782-4712
TDD: 217-524-6858
FAX: 217-782-9857


ASIAN LONGHORNED BEETLE RAVENSWOOD QUARANTINE EXTENDED
ADDISON AND SUMMIT QUARANTINES TO BE DROPPED


CHICAGO, Ill ? The Illinois Department of Agriculture today extended the Ravenswood quarantine zone for the Asian Longhorned Beetle in Chicago by adding 6.71 square miles around the area where a lone beetle was spotted on a light post at the corner of Lincoln Ave. and Webster Ave. across the street from Oz Park on Oct. 8, 2003.
The new area is bound on the south by Chicago Ave., on the west by Damen Ave., on the east by Lake Michigan and on the north by Diversey, which is the southern boundary of the original quarantine area.
?Since October, the Illinois Department of Agriculture has been working closely with the City of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to determine the infestation outside the original Ravenswood quarantine zone,? Bureau Chief of Environmental Programs, Warren Goetsch said. ?During the week of Nov. 17, USDA and City tree inspectors found 3 infested trees less than 1 block east of the intersection where the adult beetle was discovered. The trees were removed and appropriately destroyed.?
The quarantine prohibits the removal of any Asian Longhorned Beetle host material, including nursery stocks, green lumber, stumps roots, branches and debris of half inch or more in diameter from the quarantine area. Host species include Maple, Horse Chestnut, Poplar, Willow, Elm, Birch, Ash, Hackberry, Mimosa (Silk Tree) London Plane and Mountain Ash.
Chicago?area residents are encouraged to look for signs of the beetle, including sawdust at the base of trees or on top of branches and dime sized holes in trees. The Asian Longhorned Beetle is one to two inches long, jet black with white spots and antennae nearly as long as its body.
?Overall, the efforts to eradicate the Asian Longhorn Beetle have been extremely successful due to the aggressive guidelines set in place by the USDA, the efforts of the City of Chicago and cooperation from Chicago residents,? Goetsch said. ?Even as the Ravenswood quarantine zone is extended, we are preparing to discontinue two other zones, at Summit and Addison in the next few months. These quarantine zones have remained free of any signs of the Asian Longhorned Beetle over 3 years.?
A public information meeting will be scheduled in each of the affected quarantine zones in mid-February as part of the deregulation process.
Anyone seeing evidence of the Asian Longhorned Beetle should call the hotline at 1-800-641-3934.

 

[Dan F]

Found this interesting... Apparently there had been pictures imbedded in the text, but they didn't come through with the message I recieved, so if a paragraph isn't making sense, it's probably referring to the picture that isn't there.


Dan
---------------------------------------
Subject: Tapping the Senses To Catch ALB


See the below article link:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/feb04/beetle0204.htm


Tapping the Senses To Catch
Asian Longhorned Beetles

An adult Asian longhorned
beetle feeds on the bark
of a sentinel tree. Sentinel
tree species are those
known to attract the beetles
and are treated with
insecticides that will kill
the beetle after it lands
on or feeds on the tree.
(K11033-1)

A neighborhood maple tree, prized for its brilliant fall color, must be
cut down and burned. Raw stumps border a city street where leafy shade
trees once stood.

These are the effects of a black beetle whose white spots, bluish feet,
and 1- to 2-inch-long antennae would make it seem, at worst, a
funny-looking garden guest. But this bug's not getting many laughs. The
Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) from China is one of the country's most
formidable invasive insects. On its hit list? Deciduous trees in city
parks, suburbs, and forests across the eastern United States.

Coming to the aid of regulatory agencies trying to eradicate the
coleopteran pest is Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist
Michael T. Smith. Smith is an insect behaviorist at the Beneficial
Insects Introduction Research Unit (BIIR) in Newark, Delaware. His
latest tactics to quash the beetle rely on smells and sounds.
Specifically, he's developing strategies based on tree smells that are
irresistible to the beetle and on acoustics technology that can detect
the sounds of ALB larvae feeding in infested trees.

Sentinel trees (in pots) are
placed to attract Asian
longhorned beetles in areas
believed to be infested.
(K11034-1)

Novel methods are needed to detect and manage the beetle, in part
because of its cryptic nature. "The beetle doesn't make leaves fall off
a tree or turn them brown-the usual signs of bad health or insect
attack," says Smith. It spends most of its life cycle as a developing
larva hidden deep within a tree, feeding on and tunneling through the
plant's vital tissues. Like fingerprints left at a crime scene,
sawdust,
sap, and nicks in tree bark produced by the beetle serve as small clues
for those tasked with finding infested trees. But a tree may suffer
repeat ALB invasions over several years before the problem is ever
noticed.

Sentinel Trees Stand on Guard

How do you entice an insect? Give it its favorite food. Many insects
choose certain tree species-for feeding and laying eggs-based on
aromatic chemicals, called volatiles, that the trees produce. But a few
years ago, little or nothing was known about how longhorned beetles
find
their desired tree hosts. With the hope of developing new ways to
conquer ALB and other longhorned beetle pests, Smith set out to
understand this process.
Smith first examined the role of vision in the beetles' orientation
to trees. He documented them flying to vertical objects, including both
host and nonhost trees. "I thought, if they're using vision, they may
also be using odors to discriminate among tree species," he says. After
3 years of investigating ALB's response to different tree species and
their odors, Smith says the beetles are using the two senses in tandem.
"They appear to use vision to orient to the vertical silhouette of a
tree from a distance and then use the tree's odors to guide them at
close range."

The beetles' affinity for certain trees, like maples, poplars, willows,
and elms, is significant because such attractive species may be used as
sentinel trees. The strategy? A tree known to attract ALB is set out in
an area so that survey crews can detect the pests as they fly to it.
Smith has found highly attractive tree species that work effectively,
but he's still confirming which species produce the most alluring
beetle
scents.

Sentinel trees can also be used to capture and destroy ALB. When
treated
with insecticides, the trees become an attract-and-kill system. "The
potted tree is sprayed or injected with an insecticide-inside a
greenhouse or warehouse-and then transported to an area believed to be
infested," says Smith.

Another tool being readied for the beetle battle are lures that contain
tree-odor attractants, which can then be deployed with traps in
potentially infested areas. Chemist Aijun Ahang, of ARS's Chemicals
Affecting Insect Behavior Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, collected
volatiles from two attractive tree species to formulate the special
blends. Smith is investigating which of the blends' compounds are the
key attractants in field studies in China. Once refined, the blends can
be passed on to industry partners.

The scientists ran a unique laboratory test to find out which of the
volatile compounds the beetles were truly "smelling." Smith describes
it: "Insects smell volatile odors with their antennae. So we attached
electrodes to the beetles' antennae, then puffed air containing the
tree
volatiles across them. When the antennae nerves fired, we'd see a blip
on the screen. Something in the puff of air was causing the nerves to
fire." With a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, Aijun was able to
identify the volatile compounds causing the neural firings. These
compounds are in the special blends.

Unwitting Beetles Get "Bugged"

Smith is sitting beneath a leafy tree and wearing earphones. He's
listening to beetles. Not the groovy tunes of John, Paul, George, and
Ringo, but rather the noises made by hungry beetle larvae munching
their
way through the tree's inner tissues.

For nearly 5 years, Smith and BIIR biological technician Joseph Tropp
have been eavesdropping on longhorned beetles in an effort to develop a
tool that gives away the insects' destructive feeding. The scientists
are working in collaboration with the State University of New York and
Pryor Knowledge Systems, Inc., of Detroit, Michigan. Still being
fine-tuned, their detection tool is simple-and 80 percent efficient at
distinguishing ALB sounds from background noises. Visual detection, the
method currently used to find infested trees, is only about 30 to 60
percent effective.

"We envision a scenario in which a sensor is attached to a tree and the
vibrations picked up by the sensor are fed into a portable device that
determines the likelihood that an ALB larva is chewing inside the
tree,"
says Smith.

And what do munching larvae sound like? "They make a variety of feeding
noises, including one that sounds like someone chewing on cornflakes,"
Tropp says.

More work is needed to determine the sensitivity of the current sensor
and the best way to use it. The researchers also plan to develop
improved sensors that can detect ALB feeding vibrations from even
greater distances.-By Erin K. Peabody, Agricultural Research Service
Information Staff.

This research is part of Crop Protection and Quarantine, an ARS
National
Program (#304) described on the World Wide Web at www.nps.ars.usda.gov.

Michael T. Smith is in the USDA-ARS Beneficial Insects Introduction
Research Unit, 501 South Chapel St., Newark, DE 19713-3814; phone (302)
731-7330, ext. 241, fax (302) 737-6780.

"Tapping the Senses To Catch Asian Longhorned Beetles" was published in
the February 2004 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

 

[Dan F]

Another bit of good news on the ALB front...


Dan
-----------------------------------
Addison beetle threat dying
By Robert Sanchez Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted February 20, 2004

An Asian long-horned beetle quarantine zone in an Addison neighborhood is expected to come to an end soon.

But state and federal officials say it's too soon to declare final victory in the suburb's six-year battle against the tree-killing insect.

Thirty-five infected trees were found in July 1998 along Rohlwing Road. The discovery came just weeks after a much larger beetle infestation was discovered in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood.

Since that time, infected trees in both neighborhoods have been chopped down and destroyed. In addition, a quarantine has prohibited the removal from the area of logs or tree limbs larger than a half-inch around.

But unlike the Ravenswood quarantine zone, which was expanded after infested trees were found last November, there haven't been any beetle sightings in Addison since December 2000, said Warren D. Goetsch of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Because it has been more than three years since a beetle has been spotted, Goetsch said the Addison quarantine zone might be ended. He said a final decision could be made by the state as soon as next week.

"The removal of this area from the quarantine will allow for the free movement of all previously regulated articles, such as firewood," Goetsch said Thursday during a public meeting in Addison.

However, officials stress, it doesn't mean the area won't be monitored.

Scott Walock, a plant protection quarantine officer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said annual inspections of the area will continue for at least three years.

"Once the quarantine has been lifted everything still progresses," said Walock, noting the only change will be the end of annual tree treatments.

"It just means that, as far as we know, in Addison, we've gotten rid of all the Asian longhorned beetle," he said. "But we are going to keep surveying because getting rid of a insect is very, very difficult."

Officials said they suspect the white-spotted black beetles with ringed antennas traveled to DuPage County from Ravenswood.

"The ones here were brought here on a vehicle, either through firewood or just someone spent the night at a friend's house and a beetle fell on the car," Walock said. "We can't say for sure. But our best guess was that it was human transport."

Once here, the bugs search for hardwood trees, such as maples, where they breed and lay eggs. The larvae worm their way through the trees for about a year and then bore their way out, leaving drill-like holes and killing the trees.

The Addison quarantine area is bounded by Army Trail, Lombard and Swift roads and Fullerton Ave.

 

[Dan F]

Once again, just doing some catching up/cleaning of my inbox...
-----------------------------------
Posted on Fri, Aug. 20, 2004

Beetles' foothold in northern N.J. reaches 400 trees

By Tom Avril

Inquirer Staff Writer

The number of trees infested by the Asian long-horned beetle in northern New Jersey is up to 400, and a special field office will likely be established to tackle the problem, federal officials said yesterday.

So far, the number of damaged trees in Carteret, Rahway and Woodbridge is nearly four times the size of the state's only other beetle infestation, discovered nearly two years ago in Jersey City.

In past years, the beetle has destroyed thousands of trees in Chicago and New York City, and the government has spent more than $180 million since 1997 to eradicate it.

Entomologists say the shiny, black insect, with long, curved "horns," or antennae, was likely carried here from Asia in packing materials. It has killed millions of trees in its native China, prompting U.S. officials to prohibit the use of untreated wood in packing materials.

A preliminary investigation indicates that the beetles causing the new infestation are unrelated to those in Jersey City, said Barry Emens, head of the beetle eradication program in New Jersey for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

That means these beetles somehow got into the country on their own, Emens said. DNA tests will be conducted to determine whether the beetles are indeed unrelated, he said.

"It's plenty big," Emens said of the infestation, which he had estimated at just 70 trees earlier this week. "It's big enough for us to put up a new office there."

Though the first tree in the North Jersey infestation was discovered just this month, experts say the markings on trees suggest that the voracious insect may have been here for years.

Noel Schneeberger, an entomologist in charge of the forest health program for the U.S. Forest Service's northeast region, said the infested trees would have to be destroyed, as well as trees in a "buffer strip" for at least a quarter-mile beyond that.

"I think it's potentially a fairly large project," said Schneeberger, who works in the agency's Newtown Square office and plans to visit Carteret next month.

Contact staff writer Tom Avril at 215-854-2430 or [email protected].

© 2004 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.philly.com

 

[Dan F]

Long-horned beetle threat not over

August 30, 2004

BY BRENDA WARNER ROTZOLL Staff Reporter

Can the Chicago area be confident it's free of the Asian long-horned beetle that has destroyed more than 1,500 trees here since it was discovered locally in 1998?

No way.

A stunning find this month in New Jersey -- where the discovery of a single beetle led to the discovery of 400 infected trees over just three weeks -- shows why Chicago and the feds are working on a pilot project to train local volunteers to survey their own city blocks once a week.

Officials say they need structured volunteer help because they never could pay enough people to keep an eye on potential danger spots.

"Chicago's very success is starting to hurt it because most people think we've already won and there is no more Asian long-horned beetle in Chicago. Yet last year we found one," across Webster Street from Oz Park, project director Bob Benjamin said.

"The populations left are so small they may be missed by traditional surveys. The idea is to find those while they're still small," said Benjamin, who retired in 2003 as Chicago's principal forester.

The find near Oz Park was nearly a mile south of the Ravenswood quarantine zone. The zone has been extended south to Chicago Avenue. Any wood or brush in the zone must be chipped before being moved to kill beetle larvae that might be hidden inside the wood.

So far Benjamin has 19 trained volunteers, recruited through TreeKeepers and community groups located through aldermen Vi Daley (43rd) and Tom Tunney (44th).

Volunteers receive two hours of training, pick their own hours to survey and wear "Beetle Brigade" T-shirts as identification. They don't enter private yards.

Benjamin wants enough volunteers to survey all 370 city blocks in the two wards, plus the lakefront's Lincoln Park, weekly.

Steve Knight heads the federal side of the beetle eradication program in Chicago. He said such a program "could eliminate situations such as we have just experienced in New Jersey, where you have an infestation nobody knew about."

A householder cutting weeds found an Asian long-horned beetle in Carteret, N.J., recognized it from 2002 news stories about beetles spreading from New York through the Holland Tunnel to Jersey City, and called the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Two hours after a radio station reported the find, a woman who heard a broadcast reported her area near next-door Rahway was crawling with the pests.

The source of the infestation near a commercial-industrial area in New Jersey has not been determined, state and federal officials said. But a number of infested trees were found within a dozen feet of a freight railway line. In Chicago, beetles are believed to have hitched rides to new neighborhoods on L cars.

Copyright © The Sun-Times Company
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

[Dan F]

Carteret armed with knowledge of tree-killing pest

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

VICTORIA ST. MARTIN

Star-Ledger Staff

State and federal officials educated Carteret residents last night about the Asian longhorned beetle and asked for their help in stopping its spread throughout the borough and surrounding communities.

"It's a bad bug that brings us together," said Charles Kuperus, state secretary of agriculture.

The tree-killing pest is a native of the Far East and was first discovered in the borough early last month. The beetle has been found in about 400 trees within a quarantined area, which encompasses Carteret, Rahway,

Woodbridge and Linden. This is the second time the beetles have infested the New Jersey area, starting with Jersey City in October of 2002.

Tom Denholm, an entomologist for the state, said the success story of Jersey City was due purely because of cooperation. The area has had no findings of the beetle since its original sighting, he said.

"It would take us much longer without it," Denholm said. "We have a very good history ... and that was all done with cooperation."

During the meeting, visual presentations and speeches about the beetle's life span, graphs of the quarantined area and indicators of the beetle's inhabitance on a tree gave the residents a lesson in how they might help in the search.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, entomologist Michael Bohne
told residents they may use a pencil-test on holes found on trees to
determine whether they were created by the burrowing of an Asian longhorned beetle. The test may be done by sticking the eraser of a pencil inside the
hole. Also, sawdust or oozing sap may appear in or around the tree.

Don Base, the Elm Street resident who placed the first call about the beetle, said he saw it at the base of a silver maple in his yard. "I saw it a couple years ago and vividly remember it," he said. "It was one of those things I just remembered ... it was very exotic looking."

Barry Emens, director of the New Jersey Asian longhorned beetle program for the USDA, said he received Base's call in early August. He said he remembers Base telling him that the news was not good.

"He did make my day, by finding it," Emens said. "He stepped up to the
plate and went the extra mile and made the call. I wish that every resident could do that -- that's what we hope for."

Emens said the team of departments are delineating the infestation, using
survey crews, tree climbers and contractors to check trees, but permission from homeowners is needed to gain access to their properties.

Lori Baratta of Dalbert Street said she has at least two trees on her property that are infested by the beetle. She said public support and help is key to this project.

"I want to be kept informed about what's going on," Baratta said. She said survey crews have come and looked at her trees and she is "learning much about it in my own yard."

Emens said there are plans to begin removal of the trees in mid-October, after the frost kills most of the beetles. The infested trees will be shredded and possibly used as mulch. Rosa Yoo, a forester with the state Forest Service, Community Forestry Program, said her department will help the borough replant the trees.

Mayor Daniel Reiman said the removal of the trees will be at no cost to the residents. He said residents were sent letters and informational packets prior to the meeting. He plans to have two additional meetings, on Sept. 16 at 1:30 p.m. and Oct. 20 at 7 p.m., in order to reach all residents within the community.

 

[LBA]

It recently came to my attention, that a misquote posted on this site, taken from the Star Ledger, was reportedly attributed to me, I'd like to correct it personally.
Several years ago, a neighbor found an Asian Long Horned Beetle on his property & reported it to the govt..
Soon after, chaos ensued in our town. The misquote stated I’d said “public support & help is key to this project. "I want to be kept informed about what's going on," & that I was "learning much about it in my own yard."
I’d like to make it perfectly clear, in no way shape or form, did I ever state that public support & help is key to this project. That statement couldn’t be any further from the truth! Governmental support & honesty would have been the key & the only thing I learned in my own yard, was how our lives would be extremely disrupted for many months to come.
After our neighbor did his kind deed, the govt. stepped in & basically took over our property for over the next year. Five & sometimes six days a week, every week, month after month they were here. They showed up several times a day, even as early as 7:00 in the morning, without any warning, even though we consistently asked them to notify us. Many times they brought classes of students with them, so that they could “study the bug”. I work from home, making their intrusion even worse.
The majority of the people involved, had absolutely no respect to my family, our yard or our neighbors. Weekends weren’t even safe, as they also sometimes appeared on Saturdays. Entertaining our company outdoors on our back patio, was no longer an option.
They cut down our hedges without telling us, broke one of our occupied bird houses, removed the rest of them & trampled over our plants & gardens. This is just my personal story. If you were to ask other neighbors what they went through, they have many horror stories of their own. I don’t know of anyone other than the people involved in this project, who were happy about any of this. At times we had over two & three dozen people standing in our yard, without any warning, staring up at the trees as if they were viewing the second coming.

When I stated that I wanted to be kept informed, it was about when this nightmare of a project would finally be done & about any future damage to our property, that they may have foreseen, but we were kept in the dark. The town meeting they had was a joke, giving the locals sound bytes, to placate us, rather than answering questions honestly. This is where the Star Ledger came up with their own original quotes of which they attributed to me. Had they printed what I’d actually said, it would have given a much different spin on things. I did NOT support this project due to the way it was run.

I absolutely abhorred the intrusion & for over a year it felt like our lives were taken over by them. . Before anyone replies to this post to inform me of the damage these beetles can do, let me state that I’m aware of this. I also understand that the infected trees had to be removed, in order to prevent more trees from the insects intrusion. That’s not what we were upset about. We were upset at the loss of our privacy & rights, during the time this all occurred. Why were these beetles studied for well over a year, rather than to remove them as soon as they had found them? They also cut down several other thousand trees, in our town alone, that were not infected, but considered to be potential hosts. After our elderly neighbor was specifically informed that the tree which she had planted herself, over 40 years ago was not infected & was not going to be removed, she awoke several weeks later to the sound of a chainsaw removing that very same tree.
Recently on April 20, on the Channel 7 News, reporter NJ Burkett reported that Central Park had found some of these very same insects. Rather than cutting down the uninfected host trees “pesticides were pumped into the ground”. Why wasn’t this done in Carteret? I’ll say in fairness that the govt. did replace the trees, albeit with much smaller & younger ones, but this now involves new people coming into our yards, once again, at any given time, to water them & inspect them. So much for privacy. I ve had enough of my yard being trampled & raped & my rights no longer respected. As I write this, our neighboring town, Linden, NJ is going through the very same thing. Lindens mayor who is also apparently & justifiably upset, is quoted in the Star Ledger as saying “They come in here like they own the city..”
All I can say is good luck to anyone else who may find these beetles on their property. You’re going to need it.

 

[Dan F]

I can understand your frustration. I imagine it's similiar to what people closer to here are going through with the EAB. I won't even try to justify why what happened to you happened. There is no excuse for property destruction!

Please realize that the articles that I posted were sent to me by a former professor of mine and I did not search them out. They were simply copied and pasted from the email message that was sent out.

 

[MarsCrash]

Eab

It's different here in Detroit with the Emerald Ash Borer. If you need to study an ash that's infected, just walk a hundred yards in any direction. The trees that have been treated with imidicloprid injections or basal drenches are now starting to show symptoms. I'm not very hopeful.

 

[kapow2826]

ALB control concerns

Carpenterworm, found through out the USA and Canada, attacks the same trees as ALB and causes similar damage. This borer could be confused with ALB. PHOTOS OF THIS DAMAGE MAY BE FOUND IN
[PARASITIC NEMATODE MAY CONTROL CARPENTERWORM IN FIG TREES JAMES E. LINDEGREN-TOM T. YAMA????A-WILLIAM W.BARNETT-CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE JAMUARY-
FEBRUARY 1981]. Other agriculturally important trees infested by this borer include almond, walnut. pecan and loquat. Could ALB also infest agricultural tees?

Borers feeding on heartwood, like ALB, are hard to control with insecticides. The advantage of insect parasitic nematodes is that once inside a borer gallery they seek out and parasitize the larva. They then produce more infective stages. If the galleries are interconnedted the next generation could continue to search for more larvae.

Nematodes have been successfully applied with orchard sprayers and helicopters.