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Beetle a Threat to Every Ash Tree in Maine

July 08, 2008 - The parade of campers and trailers rolling up the Maine Turnpike this weekend could be bringing more than the typical summer visitors.

Somewhere, perhaps in a bundle of campfire wood, could be lurking an environmental disaster for Maine’s forests.

The emerald ash borer – a half-inch-long, metallic-green beetle – doesn’t look like much of a threat. But its possible arrival this summer – if it isn’t already here – is so alarming to Maine forest and insect experts that officials are hanging strange purple traps in trees and staking out wasp nests to see if any of the beetles are showing up in the wasps’ diet.

“It’s very serious, and it’s a bit scary,” said David Struble, state entomologist for the Maine Forest Service.

The emerald ash borer is native to Asia and probably hitched a ride to the United States inside wood packing material. The insect feeds exclusively on ash trees, boring though the wood beneath the bark so that it’s hard to detect.

It was discovered in Michigan in 2002 and has since spread throughout the Midwest and Canada, killing more than 40 million ash trees – virtually all of them – in its path. There are no natural enemies or resistant trees in the U.S., and the only way to stop the insects from spreading is through quarantines of lumber and wood products.

Because ash can’t be commercially shipped out of afflicted areas, bring-your-own campfire wood poses the biggest threat to Maine’s ash trees. And the insect is now as close as western Pennsylvania and Toronto, well within range of a holiday weekend trip to a campground or family cabin in Vacationland.

The Maine Forest Service is placing traps at 12 coastal campgrounds from Kittery to Bar Harbor. The experts logically concluded that campers from the Midwest are the ones most likely to be headed to the coast to see the ocean.

The traps are baited with a pheromone and look like purple box kites. The green beetles seem to like the color purple.

State officials also are doing what they call biosurveillance. They watch ground wasp nests in certain areas because the wasps bring beetles back to their burrows to eat and are probably dining on emerald ash borers if there are any around.

“The wasps are much better at finding the beetles thanwe are,” Struble said.

Staking out wasp nests is labor intensive. But, Struble said, the potential cost is huge and “it’s the best test we have.”

Maine has millions of ash trees scattered throughout its commercial forests, or planted for shade in parks and along streets.

White ash is used to make products such as tool handles and canoe paddles. Black ash is prized by Maine’s American Indians as the traditional material for making baskets.

There may be little that can be done to stop the beetles if they are already well-established by the time they’re discovered. But if an infestation is found early enough, officials might try to cut them off.

“You destroy all the ash trees within a quarter-mile or half-mile. Essentially it’s the only thing you really can do,” Struble said. “We might be able to contain it and protect the rest of the state.”

Clearly, the better solution is to keep the little green beetle out. So the Maine Forest Service is stepping up its annual warning against bringing your own campfire wood: “Buy it where you burn it.”

By JOHN RICHARDSON, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, July 5, 2008


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