Be on the lookout
Danger Lurking In the Trees
By Catherine Sparks and Frank Lowenstein
Picture this: you have lived in your neighborhood for decades and one morning you wake up to an unrecognizable scene: there are no trees on your entire block. Over the past year and a half, that is the nightmare many residents of Worcester, Massachusetts have experienced. Many of the city’s beautiful tree-lined streets have been turned into stark, naked concrete because of an insect smaller than your thumb– the Asian longhorned beetle.
You may find yourself asking, Why should Rhode Islanders care about an infestation in Massachusetts? The answer is that these beetles are uniquely aggressive and destructive, and educating yourself about how to identify and prevent the Asian longhorned beetle from spreading may help save your neighborhood.
Back in August of 2008, Donna Massie noticed a striking, shiny, black-and-white insect with long antennae in her Worcester backyard. Instead of ignoring it, Donna sought to find out what it was. Her curiosity sparked an effort that may save the forests of New England by eradicating the Asian longhorned beetle while it’s still limited to Worcester’s urban and suburban areas.
Native to Asia, the beetle bores into and kills many types of North American trees, including New England’s famous maple trees. Because the beetles didn’t evolve here, they have no effective natural predators in our forests and our trees have no evolved resistance to the beetles. The few tools that we can use against them are destructive and expensive, making prevention and early action the key to averting widespread devastation of backyard trees and wild forests. The efforts to stop the spread of the pest have so far focused on the removal of about 25,000 trees in a zone that includes six Massachusetts towns just 15 miles from Rhode Island.
Another attribute that makes the Asian longhorned beetle particularly devastating is that it eats virtually all hardwoods and it doesn’t mind traveling to reach its next leafy victim. One way that the beetle has been known to reach new areas is through the transportation of firewood.
While the U.S. Department of Agriculture has dedicated millions to expand programs to contain and eradicate the beetle, educating the general population about the situation is just as important. In an effort to shine a spotlight on the destruction caused by the Asian longhorned beetle, a new documentary called Lurking in the Trees is being aired on public television stations across the country, including Rhode Island.
You can help protect Rhode Island against the beetle by telling your friends about Lurking in the Trees and the importance of not moving firewood. By learning to recognize the signs of Asian longhorned beetles and keeping watch for them in your community you are helping to sustain the beauty of our New England landscape. You are also protecting the foundations of the region’s economy, including clean water, timber, maple syrup and tourism which gets a big boost from our fall colors.
If you think you have spotted the Asian longhorned beetle do what Donna Massie of Worcester did and call the Rhode Island Division of Forestry at (401) 647-3367. All of New England will thank you.
Catherine Sparks is the Rhode Island State Forester. Frank Lowenstein is The Nature Conservancy’s Director of Forest Health for North America. “Lurking in the Trees” is scheduled to air on Rhode Island PBS on April 8 at 10:30pm. For a complete list of air dates and for more information logon to www.lurkinginginthetrees.org.