Stop the beetle?

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And up here in Central Mass we have the Asian Longhorn Beetle threat! Quarantine zone of 16 square miles with a $10,000 fine for taking ANY wood products out of the zone! It could infest all the maples of the whole country if not stopped here, the USDA says.

http://www.massnrc.org/pests/alb/index.htm
 
Looks like we're up to 63 square miles now for the ALB Quarantine zone... I bet it will grow this summer. I sure hope that they get a handle on this before it does spread too far.
 
Come out to BC and western Alberta and see the hundreds of thousands of acres destroyed by pine beetle.
Brown mountains in the summer.

I hear that maple beetle is nasty.
 
Slow1 said:
Looks like we're up to 63 square miles now for the ALB Quarantine zone... I bet it will grow this summer. I sure hope that they get a handle on this before it does spread too far.

I really do not think there is any stopping it by quarantines and such.

And regardless if they think the EAB is not in NY and CT already or not, Ash trees are the bulk of dead trees that i see in both states. I see plenty of larvae under the bark so i assume they are EAB.
 
What with the beetle in Central Mass and the ice storm of December producing damage that now can't be cleared because of the beetle, things here are still a mess. I did not tap my trees this year, for the first time in 15 years.

herbert
 

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Herbster, Where are you at in Central mass? That tree looks like the 50 or so that dropped in my yard during the ice Storm.....I'm in Westminster.
 
I assume this means not to move the wood to an 'uninfected' area?

I got 20 tons of logs delivered last month and while splitting some I found what looked like a large worm size snake skin inside the wood.
There was a path that the insect obviously created while working it's way through.
There were no signs of how it entered the tree though.
Interesting.
 
Looks like Central Mass is well represented in this thread!!

I took a drive through Holden the other day and just looking at all the wood down made me wonder about all of it going off to the chipper (Holden is in the restricted zone). Also, one of the ALB disposal sites is off Ararat Street in Worcester. I could not believe all of the logs stacked up only to be chipped to no larger than an inch. What a waste!
 
mabey that new pellet mill in central, MA could make all those wood chips into something great.
 
Most of these destructive insects that are destroying our livelihood and our forests are here due to the result of our own ignorance. They are "exotic invasive species" which mean they were imported here, by us, with all the products we buy. There aren't many (if any) things that naturally control them here, so they multiply. Since we didn't recognize the problem early enough to isolate them, they spread around the country. The only chemical sprays that will kill them would also kill many other things will cause more untold consequences. It is only through education that we can all learn about them and keep them from spreading further. Do a google search on the insect of choice and there are lots of references that will help you identify what you are seeing. Ignoring the problem won't make it go away, we owe it to our kids to do what we can today.

Oh, here's where they came from, go figure!

"Native range of Emerald Ash Borer

Native distribution of EAB in Asia includes several provinces of China (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilingjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and Shandong), Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and a small portion of adjacent Russia and Mongolia. "
 
I'm next door from ilikewood in Gardner, MA and fortunately we're out of the quarantined zone. There are plenty of downed trees on my property that I'll be cutting up shorlty. As soon as I'm done cutting up the 4 big oaks that I paid to have taken down last weekend by a tree service co.
 
I'm in Northboro, and we're not in the quarantine zone either (luckily.)

I'm going scrounging for wood later today - outside the zone of course. A friend who doesn't burn wood has a whole lot of ice storm cleanup needing done, plus a few huge oaks he is going to take down and offered up the wood just so he can get rid of it. Niiiice... ;-)
 
My county in Ohio is quarantined, as well as the surrounding counties.

Are you still allowed to move wood around within a quarantine zone?

-SF
 
Surprisingly, I believe you can. Which makes no sense to me, unless you are bringing wood to be destroyed, because otherwise you are just potentially moving infested wood around in the zone, and it must make it very hard to contain I would think. *shrug*

I know you can bring wood into a quarantine zone, but once you do, you can't bring it out again (now that makes sense.)

Just got back from checking out my score - came home with my truck full of maple (holds about 3/4 cord at a time) and there is probably another 4-5 cords there of oak/maple, just waiting to be dropped and brought home. Gotta love it...
 
Sorry to hear, guys. We got nailed by the bark betle here in N.M. around 2004, when I was still living in Chicago. I just about cried as they were quite literally destroying everything, I grew up here so it really hit me in the heart. Turns out to have ben a blesing in disguise as not everything(all trees) died and I have a bountiful crop of well grown dead standing wood for the stove. I hope this will turn out the same for you all in your parts....................
 
Grrr... This guy just doesn't get it. He thinks because the "infestation" area is not near him, he can move the wood... (I've exchanged e-mail with him.) He's in the quarantine zone, it can't go anywhere.

"Per the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, residents are prohibited from removing natural wood materials (e.g., twigs, branches, trunks, logs and stumps) from the ALB regulated area (http://www.ci.worcester.ma.us/cmo/pdf/ALBRegulatedArea.pdf) regardless of whether or not the materials are infested."

*sigh*

http://worcester.craigslist.org/zip/1108003168.html
 
Oh, also, for those wondering, since someone asked earlier (and I answered incorrectly) - no, you cannot move the wood around within the quarantine area. See this:

http://www.ci.worcester.ma.us/cmo/pdf/ALBAmendedOrder.pdf

Section 5 states:

"No Person shall harvest, cut, move, carry, transport or ship (or authorize or allow any other Person to do the same) Regulated Articles within or outside of the Affected Area during the Quarantine Period, unless specifically authorized in writing by the Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation."
 
So does that effectively mean that burners in the area are shut down once their current wood piles are gone?
 
No, you can bring in wood from outside the zone, but once inside the zone, you cannot move it around.

It just makes scrounging that much more difficult for anyone inside or near the zone...
 
That's really rough, and the summer is just getting started..................
 
Wow, out west there allowing them to harvest the wood. Instead of just letting it rot. There Harvesting the infested tree's while the beetle is a larvae. Leaving it to rot is letting the beetle continue its life cycle. In turn letting the beetle infect other trees.

Cutting the trees. Burning or chipping the wood would stop the cycle or at least slow it down.

Are leaders don't seem to be thinking it through!

just my 2
jay
 
Actually, here, they (supposedly) have a plan for cutting it down, chipping it up and then disposing of it (in some cases, burning it in power stations I believe.)

I just think they have way more wood than they can handle right now.

I think they are doing the right thing not letting individuals transport it around though (except to take it to the disposal stations.) Various companies have been "certified" and are allowed to take it down and transport it for disposal as well.

I believe there are also rules in place so that certain items (nursery stock for example) can be certified "infestation free" and then get a waiver to be moved out of the zone.

So, it's not just a matter of letting it fall and rot - they are just trying to control the wood's movement so that any hitchhikers are caught. ;-)
 
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