Battling bad beetles - Clippings

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's task of combating the Asian long-horned beetle in New York and Chicago is incorporating the efforts of AMERICAN FORESTS' Big Tree sponsor, The Davey Tree Expert Company. More than 130,000 trees in parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island were injected with pesticides in an attempt to ward off the pests. Similar injections were previously done in Chicago.

Asian longhorned beetles came into the U.S. in 1996 in packing crates from China. The beetles lay their eggs in trees and the resulting larvae bore into the wood, feeding on the tree's cambium, sapwood, and heartwood and impeding the movement of water and nutrients through the tree. The injections the Davey employees have been doing are designed to stop the beetles as they begin their burrowing. Trees that are infested with Asian longhorned beetles have dead or yellowing leaves, excessive sawdust built up near the base or in a crotch, dime-sized holes, and oozing sap.

Davey also worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Chicago to inject trees and fight the spread of the deadly pest. The beetles have been found in the greater New York City and Chicago areas and in warehouses in 15 states: Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin, according to information supplied by the USDA.