Emerald Ash Borer Infestation
|  Video
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| Retha Colclasure |
| 11/23/2009 |
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| We might joke that there aren`t many trees in North Dakota. But a small insect is threatening some of those trees, and it`s no laughing matter. Forestry experts have been worried about the Emerald Ash Borer since it first appeared in the US more than two decades ago. The Emerald Ash Borer is native to China. It`s believed to have come to the US through packaging materials that were sent to Michigan. Since then, the insect has appeared in 13 states and two Canadian provinces. North Dakota isn`t on that list, yet. The Emerald Ash Borer will attack any and all species of ash trees in North America. So far, the bug has been the death of 50 million ash trees on the continent. "It has the potential to really devastate all of the ash species within North America," says Larry Kotchman, the North Dakota State Forester. He says it`s not a matter of if the insect will come to the state, it`s a matter of when. "It`s hard to predict how quickly it will arrive in the great plains," says Kotchman. "We`ve taken steps to keep it out of the great plains but the primary threat to bringing Emerald Ash Borer into the state, any region is infestation of infested firewood." There are 47 million ash trees in North Dakota that arborists are taking steps to protect. Since there is no way to get rid of the insect once it arrives...they want to make it as difficult as possible for it to spread. "We`re in the business of growing trees, so we`d like to promote those as best we can," says Jeff Smette, the manger of Towner State Nursery. He says the best way to preserve those trees is by planting a diverse variety of other trees, as well. "We want to give the folks quite a few different options to use in different situations so we have good species diversity," Smette says. He says that forestry experts have already seen the devastating effects of dutch elm disease, and are hoping to prevent a similar thing from happening with emerald ash borer. Right now, the closest infestation of Emerald Ash borer is in St. Paul, Minnesota. Experts say an easy way to prevent its spread is by using local firewood, rather than transporting wood over a long distance. |
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