18 Apr 2012: Destructive Emerald Ash Borer
Edges Closer to New England Forests

The emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle that has destroyed millions of ash trees from the U.S. Midwest to western New York over the last decade, has been found east of the Hudson River for the first time, the closest the pest has comes to the forests of New England. New York environmental officials, who have undertaken an aggressive research and control campaign across 225 square miles since the pest was first found in New York state in 2009, say they found small infestations of the beetle in three “trap” trees east of the Hudson last month. Fortunately, they say, the colony was discovered less than a year after it was established, making it easier to curb the beetles’ spread. Typically, the beetle larvae tunnel under the bark and are able to kill trees before foresters know the trees have been infested. “It’s rare that infestations are found this early,” Nate Siegert, a U.S. Forest Service entomologist, told the Associated Press. While the main population of the beetle, which originated in China, has been moving toward the mid-Atlantic and northeastern U.S. at a pace of about 2 to 3 miles per year since the beetle was first found near Detroit in 2002, smaller colonies have been able to leapfrog ahead, most likely within truckloads of logs or firewood.