Asian
Longhorned Beetle in Massachusetts
Discovery and positive identification
The Asian Longhorned Beetle (Anoplophora
glabripennis)
was discovered in Worcester, MA in early August 2008. It is estimated
that the population has been in existence there for a minimum of
5 years. The USDA Regulated Area for this infestation is now approximately
33 square miles and includes portions of 5 towns / cities. This
hardwood tree killer is native to China and arrives in North America
in wood packing material such as: pallets, crates and large wooden
spools. Once here, the adult beetle seeks healthy, live hardwood
trees for laying their eggs. After several years of infestation
within a tree, the tree dies. This infestation marks the first
time that this destructive pest has been found in such close proximity
to a forested area where it must not be allowed to invade.
Currently,
huge efforts are underway to:
- delineate the exact range of this infestation
- educate the
public
- remove all infested trees
- remove susceptible tree
species in close proximity to infested trees
- prevent the further
spread of the insect
- eradicate it from Massachusetts
Common deciduous host trees are:
- all maple species
(sugar, red, silver, Norway, etc)
- birches
- elms
- horsechestnut
- willow
- however, many other hardwoods can occasionally
be attacked
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Photo
by Bob Childs, UMass Extension |
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Definition of state and federal regulated areas
As result of the detection, portions of Worcester and portions
of the towns of Shrewsbury, Boylston, West Boylston, and Holden
are now a regulated area for the movement of woody plant material.
A Federal Order will be issued soon that parallels the state regulated
area. As part of the process of eradicating the ALB from Worcester,
the movement of woody debris, lumber, firewood, and nursery stock
that could host ALB infestations will need to be contained. This
will keep the beetle from moving via human transport. Companies
that work with host material will be contacted by officials. Only
cursory surveys have been conducted thus far and the exact area
regulated would change if more infested trees are found. Organized
and thorough survey work will begin soon. The estimation, right
now at least, for how long this beetle may have been active at
this location is thought to be 5 years given its range and visible
damage. Affected trees will be cut down and either chipped or burned
in the regulated area. This will not begin until after the first
hard frost kills any remaining adult beetles. To take trees down
before the hard frost risks spreading the infestation. This is
a sound practice, as adult beetles tend to stay on the same tree
unless that tree is severely infested.
Federal quarantine
Once the exact details of the federal quarantine are published
a link will appear at this web site (http://www.umassgreeninfo.org).
UMass Extension will remain on the forefront for the dissemination
of information as it becomes available. MDAR will continue to respond
to any reports of suspected new findings and the City of Worcester
has set up a ‘Hotline FAQ’ , see below:
Resources for Asian Longhorned Beetle Information in Massachusetts
11/13/2008 - How to recognize the Asian Longhorned
Beetle slide presentation:
The Asian Longhorned Beetle originates from the Far East, mainly
China. It is an attractive insect but it is remarkably destructive
to many of our native hardwood trees in North America. Therefore,
it is important to recognize it early and then to report it immediately
to local, state or federal agencies.
How to
Recognize the Asian Longhorned Beetle Slide Presentation (LARGE
FILE! PDF 900K) 
11/5/2008 - Minutes from 10/22/2008 Massachusetts
Tree Warden's and Forester's Association informational meeting:
On Wednesday, October 22, 2008, the Massachusetts Tree Warden's
and Forester's Association hosted a free informational meeting
at the Waltham Field Station concerning the Asian Longhorned Beetle. It
was open to Commercial and Municipal Arborists. More than
200 individuals attended. Detailed minutes from that meeting
appear below.
10/22/2008 Waltham ALB Meeting Minutes
Robert
D. Childs,
UMass Extension’s Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry
program. University of Massachusetts, Amherst
10/31/2008 - UMass Urban Forestry graduate student
analyzes infested street trees in Worcester, MA
:
In August, Asian long-horned beetle (ALB), an invasive and potentially
devastating insect pest of maples and other trees, was discovered
in Worcester. As part of her M.S. thesis, Mollie Freilicher, a
graduate student in Urban Forestry, analyzed street trees in several
communities in Massachusetts, using the Street Tree Analysis Resource
Tool for Urban Forest Managers (STRATUM). Her report is the first
comprehensive assessment of street trees in Worcester, and will
facilitate reforestation efforts after trees infested with ALB
have been removed.
A
Report on the Status of Street Trees in Worcester Massachusetts 
Courtesy
of Alex Schreyer,
Department of Natural Resources Conservation, University
of Massachusetts, Amherst
9/30/2008 - New information concerning the Asian
Longhorned Beetle has arisen since mid-September:
- More than 10,000 trees have been inspected to date with many
more to be inspected. Survey work continues on a daily
basis.
- To this date (9/30/08), 1265 trees have now been discovered
to have the presence of Asian longhorned beetle within the regulated
area.
- A new find in the Franklin Street / Brown Square and Mill Street
/ June Street neighborhoods of Worcester has lead to the entire
city of Worcester and an increased area of Shrewsbury to be included
within the new Regulated Area.
- The Regulated Area changed 9/30/08 from approximately 33 square
miles to 62 square miles.
- The new Regulated Area map can be found at
the following web site.
http://www.ci.worcester.ma.us/cmo/pdf/ALBRegulatedArea.pdf
- Approximately 16 trees with the heaviest infestations have
been injected with a double-dose of the insecticide Imidacloprid™.
- Treated trees are starting to be removed with portions of them
going to a USDA lab on Cape Cod to determine the age of the infestation
in Worcester.
- The remaining parts of removed trees have been made into small
wood chips on site.
Robert D. Childs,
UMass Extension’s
Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry program. University
of Massachusetts, Amherst
9/10/2008 - How do I report an Asian Longhorned Beetle sighting?
It is important to know what the pest looks like and to identify
the other tell-tale signs of its presence, such as exit holes in
trees and the egg-laying sites. Please carefully examine the photographs
below and if you think you may have found signs of this
pest report it immediately at the follow site:
http://www.massnrc.org/pests/albreport.aspx
Alternatively, call 617-626-1779 (Pest Alert Hotline).
Photograph_001: An adult Asian longhorned beetle
has the following key characteristics that help to identify it:
- The
body can vary in length but overall, it is between 1.0 and 1.5
inches.
- The body is a shiny jet-black color reminiscent of patent
leather
- The back of the insect has many crisp white spots of
various sizes
- When alive, the feet of the beetle are a bluish
color
- The antennae are as long or longer than the length of
the body.
- The segments of the antennae alternate between white
and black in color.
Photograph_002: Exit
hole of the adult beetle (right side of the dime)
- Exit holes of the adult beetle in the trunks and branches of
hardwood trees are from 3/8” to1/2” in diameter and
are perfectly round giving the appearance of having been made
by an electric drill. To the left of the dime is
an egg-laying site from another beetle.
Photograph_003: Egg-laying
(ovipositional) site.
- Every adult Asian longhorned beetle adult spends anywhere from
15 minutes to 2 hours chewing a pit through the bark of the host
tree within which to deposit one egg. Individual females
can live for weeks and deposit as many as 80 eggs all within
individual pits. Note the chewed ragged edges of the hole. Each
egg-laying pit is approximately 1/2" - 3/4” in
height. The top one in the photograph is fairly recent while
the lower pit was from a previous year; note its darker color
(weathered) and the way that the tree has started to “heal” this
wound.
Photograph_004: Larvae
tunneling within the wood of the host tree.
- The immature stage of this beetle is known as a ‘round-headed
borer’. After hatching from the egg just under the
bark, it will feed for a while in the inner bark/outer
wood interface. Eventually, it turns and tunnels through
the wood of the trunk or branch.
All
text and photographs by Robert D. Childs, UMass Extension,
rchilds@psis.umass.edu
8/27/2008 - USDA APHIS reports
that survey work in the Worcester area has begun:
- The survey process to delimit the Massachusetts Asian Longhorned
beetle (ALB) infestation detected earlier this month has begun
in the Worcester area, effective Monday, August 25th. Members
of the Massachusetts Asian Longhorned Beetle Cooperative Extension
Program (Federal, State and City of Worcester employees) have
begun fanning out within the regulated area to perform these
surveys. Surveys will be ground surveys with bucket trucks available
to help identify infested ALB host trees. The ALB Program has
identified a smaller area of the MA regulated area where surveys
are being conducted for the next three weeks. As the area of
the survey changes, additional maps and updates will be provided.
ALB
Survey Plan for Worcester County, MA dated 8/25/2008 (PDF 270K)
8/25/2008 - A synopsis of the Asian longhorned beetle
meeting in Worcester (8/20/08) held at Quinsigamond Community
College (Observational
notes from Robert Childs, UMass Extension):
- The meeting lasted for more than 2 hours and proved to be very
informative and positive. Speculated attendance most likely
exceeded 500 people.
- Worcester City Manager Michael O'Brien moderated and his grasp
of the situation and ability to set and maintain a tone was impressive.
- Dr. Alan Sawyer (USDA) gave a 15 minute PowerPoint presentation
on the biology and appearance of the pest. Most of his
photographs were from the Worcester infestation.
- The Regulated Area (click
here for Regulated Area detail PDF
530K )
has been expanded to include parts of W. Boylston, parts of
Boylston and Shrewsbury, as well as a part of Holden. This
new area is approx. 32 square miles (August 19, 2008). The
previous area was 16.2 square miles.
- The important thing to note: Although a number of towns
fall into the Regulated Area, IT IS ONLY WORCESTER WHERE
BEETLES OR SIGNS OF THEIR PRESENCE HAVE BEEN FOUND. ALB has
not been found in any towns in MA other than Worcester. The
reason that the other towns are part of the Regulated Area is
because some of the positive finds in Worcester are close to
where Worcester touches those other towns. When a positive
find is made, a 1.5 mile radius is drawn from that center point
and that 3 mile diameter circle then becomes part of the Regulated
Area. It is the accumulation of all of these circles that
forms the outer boundaries of the Regulated Area.
- The USDA is responsible for surveying within the Regulated
Areas. MDCR is responsible for surveys outside that area.
- The strategy for dealing with the ALB in Worcester is the same
as it has been for all of the other finds in North America: ERADICATION.
- Thomas Denholm (NJ Department of Agriculture), who has more
than 10 years ALB experience, has taken over the survey work
within the Regulated Area. By next week (8/25/08), they
hope to have 24-30 trained inspectors on the ground going door
to door. Each crew leader will have an official form of
identification and there is a phone number that homeowners can
call to verify the workers (508-799-8330).
- Individual trees will be inspected and flagged for removal
if any signs of ALB are found. That tree will be
removed. The exact strategy for dealing with tree species
that are susceptible but do not display signs of ALB presence
has not yet been determined. The top five genera of trees that
are most susceptible to ALB attack are: maples, birch, horsechestnut,
willow, elm. However, the list contains many more genera
that can support ALB development and more trees may be added
to the list. Past history for this type of work has been
to remove trees that are positive for ALB and then remove the
other hardwoods that are deemed to be susceptible that fall within
a set radius of the infested tree. This radius, in other
infestations, has been 1/8 mile to 1/4 mile depending on the
level of infestation. Once more of the survey worked is
completed, the radius for the Worcester Regulated Area will be
determined. Click
here for an ALB host list from USDA (PDF
25K)
- Survey crews will not climb fences or deal with dogs if homeowners
are not home. Homeowners have to comply (by law) and are
expected to work with the crews involved.
- Trees with positive finds will be removed usually by the next
day (removal will not start until after the first hard frost
to make sure that no adult beetles are moved). Stumps will
be ground and the trees will be taken to a central point in the
Regulated Area for chipping. All wood material
has to be rendered into chips less than one inch in two dimensions.
- Any damage incurred to personal property by tree removal equipment
will be the responsibility of the USDA. A reference was
made to situations in NY where they replaced a few driveways
and sidewalks.
- Homeowners will be given a list a tree species for replanting
(most likely 2.5" caliper trees). Only trees resistant
to ALB will be allowed. The linked pdf file here may be
of interest to local nurseries. Click
here for a replanting list (PDF
75K)
- There is no charge to the homeowner or business for tree removal.
- No private company is allowed to sell tree-removal services
within the Regulated Area. The companies that work with the USDA
will have to be "Under Compliance" with the USDA, which
requires specific training and credentials.
- After removal, susceptible tree species within a radius to
be determined (current thinking is a 1.5 mile radius but that
may change) will be treated with systemic imidacloprid as a preventative
measure; this work will be performed by the USDA. No private
companies are allowed to sell such services within the Regulated
Area.
- The USDA has treated trees within nurseries (elsewhere) for
ALB and if that becomes the case here, they will work directly
with affected nurseries. The USDA will be contacting all nurseries
within the treatment area.
- No firewood of any tree species can leave the Regulated Area.
- There was some concern expressed by a few about the use of
systemic imidacloprid and potential effect on bees. The answer
for this was that it was expected to be extremely minimal.
- There was a concern about treated trees and maple syrup production. Treated
trees cannot be tapped for this purpose.
- There was a question about mulch being regulated. Mulch
made from wood or bark can leave the Regulated Area as long as
it meets the set requirements of all pieces being 'less than
one inch particle size in two dimensions'.
- MDAR has posted a pdf for Green Industry businesses that appears
here as well: click
here for an ALB notice to businesses from the USDA (PDF
410K)
The story of the ALB in Worcester is changing almost daily
as survey work continues...
Wood
attackers index:
Asian
Longhorned Beetle
Asian Longhorned Beetle in Massachusetts
Bronze Birch Beetle
Dogwood Borer
Emerald Ash Borer - Courtesy
of USDA Forest Service
Rhododendron Borer
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