USDA Urges Residents to be on the Lookout for the Invasive Asian Longhorned Beetle

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is urging residents to search around hardwood trees in their community for signs of the invasive Asian longhorned beetle (ALB). Residents should report signs of beetle infestation to the ALB eradication program in their state, to the APHIS state plant health director or to their state department of agriculture. To find the APHIS state plant health director, log onto www.aphis.usda.gov and click “Report a Pest or Disease” in the blue box to the right of the homepage and click on the home state.

Beetles typically make their first appearances during the month of July and will continue to be present during August, September and even October.

Federal, state and local partners are working to eradicate active Asian longhorned beetle
infestations in portions of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. For maps detailing ALB
regulated areas by state, please log onto www.aphis.usda.gov and click on “Maps” in the blue
box to the right of the homepage. Residents of Illinois, north of Chicago, should also be on the
lookout for signs of ALB after detection of a single beetle in Deerfield, Ill., in August 2008.
Deerfield is outside of the former Chicago quarantine zone. Beetles could exist undetected in
other locations in the United States, including New England.

“July is the time of year when adult beetles are emerging from a winter spent growing
and developing deep inside the hardwood tree species they infest, so they are going to be easy to
spot if one knows what to look for,” said Christine Markham, national director of the Asian
longhorned beetle cooperative eradication program. “It is important that residents familiarize
themselves with signs of ALB infestation and monitor hardwood trees and surrounding areas for
this damaging invasive insect.”

The ALB adults are about 1 to 1.5 inches long, and have a shiny jet-black body with
distinctive white spots and long antennae banded in black and white. Adult beetles can be found
anywhere, including benches, car hoods, patio furniture, sides of houses, sidewalks etc. Place
any insect spotted in a jar and put the jar in a refrigerator or freezer. The ALB does not bite or
sting.

The ALB infests hardwood trees such as all species of maple, birch, horse chestnut, poplar, willow, elm and ash. Signs of an infestation, in addition to adult beetles, include: the
perfectly round, dime-sized (approximately 3/8 inch diameter) holes left by adult beetles exiting
a tree; sawdust-like material on the ground around the trunk or on tree limbs; yellowing leaves
and oozing sap.

Upon hatching from eggs laid just under the bark, ALB larvae bore into healthy hardwood trees and feed on living tree tissue and heartwood over the winter. Throughout the summer, adult beetles emerge from the round exit holes and briefly feed on the leaves and small twigs of host trees.

Early detection is critical. An ALB infestation detected in Worcester, Mass., in August
of 2008 had been growing unreported for at least 10 years. This means that ALB-infested
firewood most likely traveled out of Massachusetts, potentially starting infestations in other areas of New England and upstate New York.

Report any suspected signs of ALB. To reach the ALB cooperative eradication program
in New York, call 1-866-265-0301 or 1-877-STOP-ALB. For the ALB cooperative eradication
program in New Jersey, call 732-815-4700 or 1-866-BEETLE1. For the ALB cooperative
eradication program in Massachusetts, call 1-866-702-9938. In Illinois, call 847-699-2424.
Residents may also call the state department of agriculture or state plant health director. New
England residents may also call 1-866-702-9938.

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Georgians Help Needed to Locate Harnful Weed

The Georgia Forestry Commission is asking for the public’s help to stop a harmful weed from spreading statewide. Cogongrass is a non-native weed that has taken over millions of acres in the southeast. It flourishes in numerous soil types and chokes out natural vegetation, which significantly reduces tree and plant regeneration, wildlife habitat, forage and ecological diversity. Cogongrass is extremely flammable and difficult to eradicate, due to its dense root system.

Within Georgia, there are 23 state, federal and private groups that have formally partnered to locate and destroy infected sites and educate landowners about the threat. The Georgia Forestry Commission offers free eradication treatments to landowners who have Cogongrass. The GFC also partners with other member states of the Southern Group of State Foresters (Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina) to combat the invasive weed regionally.

Cogongrass was first introduced into the United States near Grand Bay, Alabama in 1911 via seed in grass packing materials used in shipping containers from Southeast Asia. It has spread throughout Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida and has now been found in 28 Georgia counties.

The grass is most easily recognized in the spring flowering and seeding period (March through May in Georgia) when the white fluffy seeds are produced and dispersed. Cogongrass has sharp pointed, scaly rhizomes with a very dense root system, and grows in a circular-shaped pattern. It also has an off-centered midrib on leaf blades that measure between one and five feet.

“Our purpose as a group is to address the short and long term negative effects of Cogongrass in
Georgia,” said Robert Farris, Director of the Georgia Forestry Commission. “We want the public to report sightings of this dangerous weed so that our teams of Professionals can take the necessary measures to bring this threat under control.”

The Cogongrass threat is considerable because of the weed’s aggressive and destructive nature. A
single plant can produce up to 3,000 seeds, which spread easily in the wind. Individual, underground rhizomes or pieces of rhizomes can sprout new plants as well. Rhizome pieces are easily transported to new areas in contaminated soil, hay, sod, or on equipment, launching still more infestations. The roots and rhizomes of Cogongrass are fire-tolerant, but leaves and flowers of the plant are extremely flammable, creating a fire hazard for firefighters and citizens living in rural areas.

Residents who suspect they have found Cogongrass should contact their local GFC office and avoid mowing or disking through or near the area to avoid further spread. Photographs and more information about Cogongrass can be found on the GFC website at GaTrees.org.

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