USDA Warns About Asian Longhorned Beetle

USDA warns about invasive Asian Longhorned Beetle

By Angelica A. Morrison | September 5, 2017

The US Department of Agriculture is asking residents along the Great Lakes corridor and beyond to watch out for an invader- the Asian Longhorned Beetle.

 

 

 

The bug is definitely creepy. It has long antennas with white stripes.  And a black glossy exterior with asymmetrical white spots. It can fly, but it doesn’t like to, said Andrea Locke the coordinator for WNY Prism, the organization was hosting the invasive clean up.

“This particular bug, it’s impressive. It’s a large bug. It’s about an inch to an inch and a half in size if folks see it they’re going to notice. It’s just a matter of connecting that noticing the bug and understanding that this is something that people need to report,” Locke said.

Essentially, the insect eats the tree from inside out. It burrows deep inside and lays eggs. The larva grows into an adult. It emerges leaving an exit hole. Its damage trees can’t usually recover from.

But, what does the damage look like?

You might see dime sized holes in the trunk or branches. Sometimes you’ll see tunneling marks. There’ll also be a sawdust like material on the ground.

“The Asian Longhorned Beetle is one of the most destructive forest pests that could have entered the United States,” said Rhonda Santos of the USDA.

The organization is trying to eliminate the bug. They inspect and remove infested trees. They also set up quarantine areas.  So far, the bug has led to the loss of more than 160,000 trees across the nation.

It was first detected in the US, in 1996. Experts believe it came from wooden packing material, used in cargo shipments from China.

“When we find an Asian Longhorned Beetle infestation it usually takes at least 10 years to be able to eliminate the beetle from that area. That goes back to finding every infested tree, removing it and, continuing to search the remaining trees, to make sure the beetle is not there,” she said.

The bug was eliminated from areas in Illinois and New Jersey. There are still active infestations in Ohio, Massachusetts, New York and Canada. This summer, the quarantine in southwest Ohio was expanded. Santos says they were proactively searching about a mile outside the zone and found a bug.

“There’s a concern that this insect can be where we don’t know it to be already. And certainly for the Great Lakes region, where you have so many trees,” Santos said. “Particularly, in the northern border of the US, those trees go right into Canada and because we have so many trees, that’s a greater risk that this pest could go after those trees in that area.”

Report findings at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/home/

http://asian-longhorned-beetle.com/

 

Original article published on Great Lakes Echo.

Firewood Awareness Month. Why do we need one?

Fall is here! That means that many will be travelling, looking for that perfect fall foliage that makes the covers of calendars everywhere. And there’s nothing wrong with that.  Michigan welcomes all who want to take a gander at her magnificent fall colors. We just ask that you do one thing.

Leave the wood at home.

This goes for everyone, both in-state and out-of-state travelers. It might seem harsh, or that it’s just another excuse to sell firewood, but there’s a good reason for it. Insects can hitch a ride in firewood, either as eggs, larvae, or even as adults depending on the time of year. Right now, a lot of insects are laying eggs that will overwinter and hatch next spring. By bringing your own firewood you may be unknowingly moving forest pests hundreds of miles to cause new devastation next year.

If we have learned anything from the destruction of the Emerald Ash Borer it is that prevention is key. We do not want a repeat of this kind of damage. So it becomes all of our responsibility to be part of the solution, instead of the problem.

By purchasing firewood where you intend to burn it, or even gathering it on site if it’s permitted, is one of the easiest things you can do to help stop the spread of unwanted insects and disease.

That is why this year, for the first time, the nature Conservancy’s Don’t Move Firewood program is teaming up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) Hungry Pests initiative for Firewood Awareness Month. Learn more in the article below.

We all need to do our part to protect our trees.

 

As the Weather Cools, Your Firewood Choices Matter

Posted by Abbey Powell, Public Affairs Specialist, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), on October 3, 2016 at 11:00 AM

Wood boring insect pests can continue their development deep within cut wood. They can emerge from wood left to sit outside to infest new areas.

 

This October, the Nature Conservancy’s Don’t Move Firewood campaign and Hungry Pests, an initiative from APHIS, are partnering to present the first-ever Firewood Awareness Month. The cooler nights and quickly approaching fall season brings an increase in RV camping, hunting, and home heating. Firewood Awareness Month looks to raise public awareness about the potential danger of firewood movement as a pest and disease pathway at this high-risk time of year.

Tree-killing invasive insects and diseases can lurk both inside, and on the surface, of firewood. While these insects and diseases don’t travel far on their own, transporting firewood allows them to move hundreds of miles and start infestations in new places, explains APHIS Deputy Administrator Osama El-Lissy.

Pest infestations can impact our forests by killing trees there as well as in our parks and communities. Infestations are also costly to control or eradicate.

Everyone’s firewood choices matter, says Leigh Greenwood, The Nature Conservancy’s Don’t Move Firewood campaign manager. When it comes to protecting our campsites, wildlife habitats, neighborhood trees, and other favorite places, we all have a personal responsibility to slow the spread of forest pests. Firewood Awareness Month serves as the perfect opportunity to inform the public on the different ways they can help protect the places they love.

Firewood that has been heat treated is often sold bagged, boxed, or wrapped. Look for a state or federal seal to certify it was properly treated. Photo credit: L. Greenwood, Don’t Move Firewood campaign, The Nature Conservancy

 

This Firewood Awareness Month, everyone can help protect the places they love from the spread of damaging forest pests by making one of these three safe firewood choices:

1. Buy firewood near where you’ll burn it
2. Buy certified heat treated firewood (look for a state or federal seal)
3. Gather firewood on site when permitted

Anyone who will travel from one location to another, including campers, anglers, hunters, and RV owners, should not carry firewood—unless it is heat-treated and certified—to their destination. This can spread forest pests and may also violate state and federal laws, depending on the region. Plan to gather firewood on site if permitted or purchase firewood near your camping destination.

People who use wood to heat their homes or cabins can help by harvesting firewood locally or by purchasing firewood from a reputable dealer who is in compliance with state or regional firewood regulations. Some operations may be unaware of quarantine and movement restrictions, resulting in the unintentional and illegal movement of tree-killing pests.

Tourists, too, can help protect the places they love against the spread of pests. As thousands of “leaf peeping” fall foliage enthusiasts travel to view the changing leaves around the country, they should purchase firewood locally, buy certified heat treated firewood, or gather on site if allowed.

Get state specific firewood regulations and recommendations at Dontmovefirewood.org/map. Visit www.DontMoveFirewood.org or www.HungryPests.com to learn how to help stop the spread of invasive pests and report signs of them to the proper authorities, and use #firewoodmonth to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

When buying firewood for home heating, use a reputable dealer in compliance with local regulations. Photo credit: L. Greenwood, Don’t Move Firewood campaign, The Nature Conservancy

Bees and Bats Get a Boost

There have been a couple noteworthy federal grants awarded recently that will benefit environmental research efforts. One was a $223,602 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant awarded to researchers at Western Michigan University to fund a collaborative research effort into white-nose syndrome in the hopes of finding a solution to combat the disease. The other was a $6.3 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant awarded to Michigan State University to support native pollinator research and education outreach efforts.

These grants will hopefully bring great successes to two very different, but equally important issues. We rely on both bats and bees to keep our environment productive and balanced. Check out the details of these projects in the following articles.

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White-nose syndrome in bats subject of $223,000 grant awarded to two Western Michigan University professors

Photo Courtesy of Marvin Moriarty | United States Federal Wildlife Service

By  Yvonne Zipp | yzipp@mlive.comThe Kalamazoo Gazette
on July 11, 2014 at 10:30 AM, updated July 11, 2014 at 10:39 AM

KALAMAZOO, MI — Two Western Michigan University researchers have been awarded almost a quarter of a million dollars by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study white-nose syndrome in bats.

The $223,602 grant was part of an overall $1.8 million targeted toward eight projects across the U.S. focused on research and management of white-nose syndrome.

The fungal infection has killed at least 6 million bats in 27 states and five Canadian provinces since it was first documented in New York in the winter of 2006-07. Cases of white-nose syndrome were reported in northern Michigan for the first time this year.

“Bats are fascinating animals that are vital for a healthy environment. We are hopeful that these investments into research will get us closer to getting the upper hand on this devastating disease,” said Wendi Weber, co-chair of the White-Nose Syndrome Executive Committee and northeast regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in a statement.

Maarten Vonhof, associate professor of biological sciences and the environmental studies, and Robert Eversole, master faculty specialist in biological sciences, will be heading the research at WMU. Timothy Carter of Ball State University and Kevin Keel of the University of California in Davis also will collaborate on the project.

The group will test the efficacy of chitosan, a compound obtained from the outer skeleton of shellfish, to limit the growth of white-nose syndrome — Pseudogymnoascus destructans — on experimentally infected bats. The compound prevents the fungus from growing and is a wound-healing accelerant that may help to limit damage to bats’ skin caused by the fungus.

Eventually, the research may lead to a treatment that is available for widespread use to treat hibernating populations of bats.

In all, eight projects in New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin received funding through the service’s Endangered Species Recovery and Science Applications program.

Since 2008, the service has granted more than $17.5 million to institutions and federal and state agencies for white-nose syndrome research, according to a press release.

“Scientists from around the world are working together to understand this disease, and to develop the tools to manage WNS and conserve our native bats,” said Dr. Jeremy Coleman, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s national white-nose syndrome coordinator. “Findings from past research have led to improved methods for detecting Pseudogymnoascus destructans, development of potential tools to slow disease spread and treat infected bats and the development of a national bat population monitoring program.”

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Published: Aug. 6, 2014

USDA awards MSU $6.9 million grant to help bees

 

Contact(s): Layne Cameron Media Communications office: (517) 353-8819 cell: (765) 748-4827 Layne.Cameron@cabs.msu.edu, Rufus Isaacs Entomology isaacsr@msu.edu, Jennifer Martin USDA office: (202) 720-8188 jmartin@nifa.usda.gov

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded $6.9 million to Michigan State University to develop sustainable pollination strategies for specialty crops in the United States.

“Specialty crops are valued at more than $50 billion every year, and pollination is critical to ensure successful fruit set and profitability of the industry,” said Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA director. “With the recent declines in pollinator numbers, especially honey bees, this grant is extremely important for the sustainability of the specialty crop industry in the United States, which produces the fruits, vegetables and nuts recommended by USDA for a healthy diet.”

The research and outreach efforts being supported by this grant will provide growers with information on pollination, pollinators and management practices that will keep their crops productive year after year, he added.

The grant was funded through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, part of the 2014 Farm Bill that was signed at MSU.

Rufus Isaacs, MSU AgBioResearch entomology researcher and extension specialist, will lead the project with the goal of developing and delivering context-specific integrated crop pollination recommendations on how to effectively harness the potential of native bees for crop pollination.

“This next stage of funding is essential for continuing the work of the team of more than 50 people across the nation who are dedicated to the goals of our project,” Isaacs said. “We have established and measured bees and crop yields in more than 100 fields at farms from California to Pennsylvania, some pollinated with honey bees, some with wildflower habitat added for pollinators and some augmented with other types of managed bees.”

The team will continue to monitor the fields and compare the performance, economics and social aspects of these tactics while developing educational and decision-support information for specialty crop pollination, he added.

These ICP strategies are designed to improve long-term sustainability of U.S. specialty crops and help ensure the continued ability of growers to reap profitable returns from their investments in land, plants and other production inputs.

Isaacs and the team will:

• Identify economically valuable pollinators and the factors affecting their abundance.
• Develop habitat management practices to improve crop pollination.
• Determine performance of alternative managed bees as specialty crop pollinators.
• Demonstrate and deliver ICP practices to specialty crops growers.
• Determine optimal methods for ICP information delivery and measure ICP adoption.
• Analyze economics and modeling of pollination ecosystem services.

 

MSU first received a SCRI grant for $1.7 million to begin this work in fiscal year 2012, the final year of the 2008 Farm Bill.

MSU’s team includes scientists from Loyola University, Franklin and Marshall College, Penn State University, University of Florida, University of Vermont, The Xerces Society, the University of California-Davis and UC-Berkeley, the USDA Agricultural Research Service and a private company, Pacific Pollination. The project also includes a large number of collaborating farmers providing in-kind support such as their land for conducting the research, and a diverse advisory board of stakeholders.

Through federal funding and leadership for research, education and extension programs, NIFA focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues affecting people’s daily lives and the nation’s future. For more information, visit http://www.nifa.usda.gov.

It’s Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week

If you live in Michigan, most likely you have seen several standing dead trees along roads and highways, you may or may not know what they are, but you’ve seen them. More than likely those were ash trees that have died as a result of an infestation of the invasive Emerald Ash Borer Beetle.

A native of Asia, this colorful (and admittedly beautiful) beetle has decimated the ash population of the northeastern and mid-western portions of the United States.  Since its identification in 2002 it has been found in 16 states and 2 Canadian provinces.  The number one way this beetle spreads from state to state is through human involvement – inadvertently transporting the insect in any of its stages (egg, larvae, or adult) to a new location where it can establish another population.  An aggressive awareness campaign exists in order to educate the public about this threat to our nation’s forests and to, hopefully, help curb the spread of the beetle.

This week is an example of yet another education effort.  May 19-25 has been designated Emerald Ash Borer Week.  This is the time of year when adult beetles start becoming active and you may see them flying around your trees, if you happen to have any ashes left.  It’s also the time that people are most likely to move the pest when packing for camping season.  The following is a blog post by the U.S. Department of Agriculture about the beetle, what signs to look out for, and a link for more information.

Side Note:  here is another good site to bookmark if you’re looking for information on where the Emerald Ash Borer has been found, quarantine information, the beetle’s life cycle and how to identify it, what to do with a tree that you have lost due to the beetle, the options for treating an early infestation and more.

 

All That Glitters Is Not Gold ….

Posted by Lisa Peraino, Plant Health Safeguarding Specialist, on May 20, 2013 at 1:46 PM

 

Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week is May 19-25. David Cappaert, Michigan State University.

In this case it is green, a brilliant emerald green, and it is chomping its way through America’s forests. The emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, may look pretty, but it is killing our ash trees in our forests and backyards.

This is Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week (May 19-25) and the time of year when you might see adult beetles flitting about among your ash trees. It is also the time of year you may unknowingly move this pest if you pack firewood when you kick off the summer camping season.

The EAB attacks ash trees and all ash trees are at risk.  First, adult females lay their eggs in the tree bark.  The eggs hatch into larvae.  These larvae look like creamy white, flat worms, and they chew tunnels just under the bark, cutting off the plumbing that supplies nutrients to the tree.  With the tree’s water pipes shut off, the tree starves and dies in just a couple of years.

Because the larvae cause all their damage under the bark, it can be hard to tell when a tree is infested until it is too late.  So it’s important to be on the lookout for some telltale signs of an EAB infestation, such as:

• Canopy dieback, usually starting at the top of the tree
• Sprouts growing from the trunk as the upper portions of the tree die
• D-shaped exit holes where the beetles chewed their way out of the tree
• Vertical bark splits that expose the larvae’s tunnels

It can be tempting to turn that dying tree into firewood to make use of the dead wood—go ahead, but keep it local. It is important not to move this firewood around since pests still living in the wood can be brought to new areas and infest a whole new neighborhood.  Before you know it, these pests can be hitching rides all over the country via your road-trip.  The emerald ash borer beetle, detected in 19 states, has destroyed tens of millions of ash trees so far.  The estimated cost of treating, removing, and replacing 37.9 million ash trees in urban and residential settings in 25 states is $25 billion.

Stop EAB in its tracks, Don’t Move Firewood.  Visit www.StopTheBeetle.info to learn more.

USDA Urges Residents to be on the Lookout for the Asian Longhorned Beetle

Beetles Expected to Emerge in July

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is asking for the public’s help in detecting and preventing the spread of the Asian Longhorned Beetles (Anoplophora glabripennis), a serious pest of hardwood trees.
 
Federal, state and local partners are currently working to eradicate active Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) infestations in portions of Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. ALB was detected in Ohio this month and surveys are currently being conducted to determine the size and scope of the infestation. Eradication has been declared from infestations in Illinois and Hudson County, N.J. While the ALB does not pose a risk to human health, it is extremely dangerous to hardwood trees. ALB is known to attack and kill healthy maple trees, as well as ash, birch, elm, European mountain ash, golden rain, hackberry, horse chestnut, katsura, London plane tree, mimosa, poplar and willow. To date, the beetle has caused the destruction of more than 72,000 hardwood trees in the United States alone.

“July is when we start to see adult beetles emerge after a winter spent growing and developing deep inside the tree they’ve infested, and they are easy to see if you know what to look for,” said Rebecca Bech, deputy administrator for APHIS’ plant protection and quarantine program. “It is important to familiarize yourself with the signs of an ALB infestation and monitor your own trees and trees in your community for this destructive pest.”

The ALB is a large beetle. Its body is approximately 1- to 1-1/2 inches long and is shiny black with random white spots. Its antennae, which are longer than the insect’s body, are banded black and white and it has six legs. Its  feet are black and sometimes appear with a bluish tint. Adult beetles typically first appear during the month of July and will continue to be present throughout the summer and into the early fall months. Adult ALB can be found anywhere, including on trees, benches, patios and outdoor furniture, sides of houses and sidewalks, etc.

The beetle can also be found, and unknowingly transported, in firewood. Cutting a tree into firewood will not kill the ALB developing inside it, and adult beetles can still emerge from the wood, thereby spreading an ALB infestation to new areas. Firewood from ALB regulated areas must be used within the regulated area. If you see signs of ALB infestation on your firewood, please call the USDA or your state department of agriculture immediately. Firewood also presents a very real threat to the Nation’s forests, not only from the ALB, but other invasive species, such as the emerald ash borer (EAB), as well. APHIS is asking residents not to move firewood and to purchase firewood locally from the area where it will be burned.
 
If you see the ALB, or other signs of an ALB infestation, or if you have questions about control and eradication efforts, please call your local APHIS state plant health director, your state department of agriculture or the ALB cooperative eradication program in your state.

If you find an ALB, you can help to stop the spread by capturing it, placing the insect in a jar and freezing it. This will preserve the insect for identification. Early detection of ALB infestations is very important because it can limit an infested area and the number of trees destroyed. More information about the ALB can be found at www.aphis.usda.gov and click on “Asian Longhorned Beetle” under the “Hot Issues” heading.  You may also log on to www.beetlebusters.info.