Emerald Ash Borer

[AJE]

A Buggy Solution to the Emerald Ash Borer?

WBAY-TV
June 15, 2007
By Jenn Karlman

An insect killing thousands of trees across the Midwest isn't known to be in Wisconsin yet, but the State is preparing for it. The little green metallic bug has the potential to wipe out thousands of ash trees.

One option is using bugs to fight the bugs.

If the emerald ash borer shows up in Wisconsin, the Department of Natural Resources says the State is considering bringing in Chinese wasps to essentially eat away at the problem.

"The wasp would find those eggs and attack them and lay its own egg inside," the DNR's Bill McNee explained. "The wasp larva would eat the ash borer from the inside, therefore, no ash borer."


But "no ash borer" doesn't necessarily mean no backlash.

"It may have adverse consequences on populations of native species which could then have other eco-system consequences which we can't really predict," entomologist Michael Draney cautioned.

"There are always risks with bringing in new species, and one of the things we do now that we didn't do many years ago, there's extensive testing done to see what other species an insect will hack," McNee said.

Bringing in bugs from a different country to battle a bug already here is called biological control. It's what scientists did 15 years ago with the gypsy moth. The Japanese wasp killed nearly half of the moth eggs.


"Maybe one out of a thousand eggs it attacks will be something other than gypsy moth, so that's the kind of specificity we're looking for these biological controls that are introduced these days," McNee said.

And one of those could be the Chinese wasp, should the emerald ash borer cross state lines.

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=6666052

[AJE]

Ash borer fight adds wasps


U.S. wants to unleash Asian beetle's parasitic predator to save trees
Chess or checkmate?

June 9, 2007
The federal government has spent more than $100 million in the last five years in its fight to stop the tree-eating emerald ash borer. The battle plan has been as simple as it has been ineffective - stop the beetle's ability to spread by destroying nearby stands of healthy ash trees.

The problem, basically, is that the flying, stealthy little critter has been infesting trees faster than the government can chop them down.

Now the U.S. Department of Agriculture is poised to launch a new front in the battle.

It wants to release three species of imported Chinese wasps this summer to eat the invading beetles, which already have been blamed for the death of 20 million ash trees in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.


For the complete articleby JS Online :arrow:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=617306

[kmfarm]

Seems like everytime we bring in a new bug to fight another, we compound the issue. The fed's and the DNR need to make sure that these wasp's don't cause another problem later. If the wasp's happen to control the borer population, what do they do then? Go away, or attack something else?

Mark

[MrKhay]

I planted 600 Ash Trees in Columbia County in 2002. I've been checking on them annually. I get monthly reports on the progress of the trees. At this point there is no evidence of the EAB (Emerald Ash Borer). I'm very pleased by this.

Although there is an infestation of the beetle in several of the counties, either there is some good tree management or the beetle just doesn't like the trees I planted. That's fine.

You can find tips on how to thwart the propagation, and extermination methods to use in the annihilation of this serious threat to our ash trees, at the link.

Stop the Emerald Ash Borer Beetle

[j10asen]

Originally Posted by MrKhay

I planted 600 Ash Trees in Columbia County in 2002. I've been checking on them annually. I get monthly reports on the progress of the trees. At this point there is no evidence of the EAB (Emerald Ash Borer). I'm very pleased by this.

Although there is an infestation of the beetle in several of the counties, either there is some good tree management or the beetle just doesn't like the trees I planted. That's fine.

You can find tips on how to thwart the propagation, and extermination methods to use in the annihilation of this serious threat to our ash trees, at the link.

Stop the Emerald Ash Borer Beetle

Good posting MrKhay
The site touts NOT moving firewood and burn it where you buy it.
I have not moved firewood beyond any DNR defined boundaries since they 1st initiated the program.
The problem now is local vendors are using this to their advantage by charging much higher prices for smaller stacks of wood. I can say we are not burning as much firewood as we did before and have fewer campfires.
I can also say locally purchase firewood has become poorer in quality over the past few years. I have been more disappointed than satisfied with my firewood purchases. This statement is true for private and dnr supplied firewood.
Maybe if they both supplied value and lower cost to their customers they would reduce the risk of those who still transport firewood beyond dnr boundaries.
Everyone is responsible for trying to prevent the spread of this insect.

[MrKhay]

DEATH TO ALL EMERALD ASH BORERS.

These creatures are of no benefit to mankind. They don't even make good fertilizer.

[dgridley]

They say everything has a purpose.. hard to find one here, lol!

[MrKhay]

Originally Posted by dgridley

They say everything has a purpose.. hard to find one here, lol!

They look too small to use as fishing bait. If nothing else, it should make at least good bait.

Walleye, or bass, maybe crappy, or trout...a good 'fly fishing' bait.