Emerald Ash Borer Hits Western UP, 200 Miles From 2007 Infestations - Free Press

[hatrack]

The deadly emerald ash borer, which has already killed more than 25 million ash trees in Michigan, has been discovered in the Keweenaw Peninsula, more than 200 miles from infestations found last year just over the Mackinac Bridge. The find in the Keweenaw means western Upper Peninsula forests, which have some of the thickest stands of ash trees in Michigan, according to the U.S. Forest Service, could be at risk. It means that those with ash trees in their woodlots, grown for timber, and those with landscape trees in their yards have a new worry -- without an easy answer.

The borer, a tiny, metallic-green beetle first detected in Michigan near Canton in 2002, has now spread to nine other states and two Canadian provinces. Three states have discovered the bug this summer: Virginia, Missouri and, last week, Wisconsin.

Scientists say the insect, with assistance from humans, shows no sign of stopping its assault on the nation's ash trees, which are most heavily concentrated in the Midwest and across the East Coast. Scientist Andrew Storer was standing last week near Laurium, beneath an old ash tree with its bark falling off and wavy tunnels created by borer larvae.

"We just got one on a leaf," Storer, an assistant professor of forest ecology at Michigan Technological University, said by cell phone. He said he found adult borers on trees and in the air. "This tree won't live much longer," he said.

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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080817/NEWS05/808170389

[Muttocracy]

1. EAB is a really terrible forest threat and spreading fast

http://www.emeraldashborer.info/

[hatrack]

2. Thanks, Insatiable Demand For Cheap Imported Building Materials & Plastic Shit!

:eyes:

[Muttocracy]

3. Seriously. And with people using wood for cheap heat, it may move even faster. nt

[hatrack]

5. Too bad about all those hardwood forests, but hey! There's a new Playstation game out this week!!!

Wooooooooooo-hoooooooooo!!!

[Bob Dobbs]

4. And the mountain pine beetle is destroying lodgepole pine forests in CO

Thanks global warming.

[NickB79]

6. Is there any research into EAB-resistant ash strains or hybrids?

Because frankly, I think the days of the native ash tree are numbered, just like the American chestnut and American elm. The only hope left may be hybridized strains that can resist the borer, if they exist.

[amandabeech]

7. Yes, thank heavens.

It's being done at Ohio State. I'm surprised that Michigan State is not doing something, too, since Michigan was the first state hit.