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emerald ash borer


How an Invasive Beetle Almost Changed America’s Pastime

March 28, 2023 Scott Elliott, ARS Office of Communications

Pitchers are on the mound and warming up for this season’s opening day of baseball. Ninety feet away, batters, armed only with a wooden stick, prepare to face them. Many parts of America’s national pastime have changed over the years, but the two key elements – putting bat to ball – have remained at...

Research and Science

APHIS Supports Earth Day Mission Every Day

April 22, 2022 Jenny Moffitt, Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs

Earth Day is a global movement empowering people to create real change in the world to help our environment and natural resources. I recently visited two Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) laboratories to see the actions they are taking to stop invasive insects and protect crops and...

Animals Plants Research and Science

After a Blight, the Trees that Survived Need Your Help

February 25, 2020 Carolyn Pike, State and Private Forestry, USDA Forest Service

Humans adores trees. But humans also migrate and trade, habits that led to the accidental introduction of insects and diseases that harm trees and alter the landscape. Examples are easy to find and may be outside your front door: American elms that once dotted streets across America succumbed to...

Forestry

Did the Polar Vortex and its Freezing Temperatures Wipe out the Emerald Ash Borer?

February 28, 2019 Robert Hudson Westover, USDA Forest Service Office of Communication

With some news stories suggesting that a majority of invasive species across the United States have been greatly reduced in numbers because of rare frigid temperature this winter it is understandable that some folks might think the battle of the invasive is close to being won. That assumption would...

Animals

Scary Pests on Firewood: No Thanks this Holiday Season

November 13, 2018 Abbey Powell, APHIS Public Affairs

With Halloween a few weeks behind us, and the time for gathering family and friends to give thanks fast approaching, you might not realize scary creatures may still lurk outside… waiting for a free ride to your house or cabin… in your firewood!

Animals

Biocontrol Staff Are Modern-Day MacGyvers in the Fight Against Invasive Beetle

May 23, 2016 Sharon Lucik, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

Emerald ash borer (EAB) beetle is an invasive wood boring beetle, first detected in July 2002 in southeastern Michigan. The pest attacks and kills ash trees and it is responsible for the death and decline of tens of millions of ash in 25 states. EAB lives under the bark and when people move EAB...

Animals Plants

Invasive Pest Invades a National Comic Strip

May 22, 2015 Abbey Powell, APHIS Public Affairs Specialist

Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Awareness week is May 17-23 and my tenure in a nationally syndicated comic strip is coming to an end, so it’s a good time to tell you how a new USDA employee wound up cartoon-ized. The Mark Trail strip—known for its environmental themes—just finished a six-week long storyline...

Animals Plants

Forests a Fascination Since High School for Legislative Affairs Specialist

October 28, 2014 Robert Westover, Office of Communication, U.S. Forest Service

When Katie Armstrong read “So You Want to be a Forester,” like many high school students she wasn’t sure what career path she wanted to follow. So she decided to attend a summer forestry camp offered by Michigan Tech. After the camp she was hooked. Then she set her goal on attending Michigan State...

Forestry

Scientists Work to Protect Trees in Southeast Alaska from Non-Native Longhorned Beetles

October 21, 2014 Jane Knowlton, Office of Communication, U.S. Forest Service

Non-native longhorned beetles are easily transported around the world in solid wood packing material, arriving in a new location with no natural enemies to control their populations. Across the country, many of these non-native beetles, particularly the Asian longhorned beetle, have killed tens of...

Forestry

Virginia Tech Demonstrates New Method to Treat Ash Firewood

August 04, 2014 Devin J. Wanner, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, U.S. Forest Service

The shiny green one-half-inch-long, one-eighth-inch-wide emerald ash borer has destroyed tens of millions of ash trees in the U.S. since the beetle’s discovery in 2002 in Detroit. The real Ash trees comprise around seven percent of the trees in eastern U.S. forests. In urban areas, ash trees make up...

Forestry Animals Plants
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