Forest Pests

Can wasps save the ash tree? Native Americans are giving it a try

By Mark Wedel

 

Vic Bogosian has an 18,000-strong army--or, rather, air-force--of wasps, and he's looking for more draftees. They're fighting an enemy of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, the emerald ash borer, an invasive species from China that has been wiping out an important part of Michigan's Native American culture, the ash tree.

"The bugs here yet?" the...

So many empty Worcester-area traps 'a good sign' in beetle battle

    WORCESTER - Good news on the Asian longhorned beetle front: Surveys of traps hung across Worcester County this summer have turned up only one of the pests in the city, where an infestation of the tree-killing insects was centered, and none in the region beyond.

    This suggests that efforts to stop the spread of the beetle are paying off, according to...

The Slow Process of Countering the Emerald Ash Borer

In 2001, ash trees began dying in Detroit, and no one could say why. Then glittering green beetles were discovered crawling out of an ash log.

American scientists had never seen the beetles, and they reached out to experts around the world for help. A Slovakian entomologist named Eduard Jendek solved the mystery: Detroit’s ash trees were being killed by Agrilus planipennis, the emerald...

USDA Asks People to Check Their Trees for Signs of the Asian Longhorned Beetle During the Month of August

Washington, Aug. 3, 2015 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announces August is Tree Check Month and urges people to check trees for signs of the invasive Asian longhorned beetle (ALB). August is a time of peak emergence for the beetle and is most likely when the adult beetle can be seen infesting trees.

Out-of-State Firewood Now Banned in Rhode Island

If you plan on stacking up some firewood for camping and the backyard fire pit, or simply stocking up before the winter, don’t plan on buying any non-local logs.

You can blame the Asian Longhorned Beetle and the Emerald Ash Borer for a ban on out-of-state firewood and a prohibition on the transport of wood from the neighboring states of Massachusetts and Connecticut across borders...