Safety On The Job: Six Steps To Adopting A Culture Of Safety
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Finding Emerald Ash Borer: Watching Woodpeckers & Early ID
Robert Haight, a Forest Service researcher in St. Paul, Minnesota, has proposed a more strategic approach to saving ash trees: identifying beetle-infested trees before they show signs of damage. One way, he says, involves searching for woodpeckers. The emerald ash borer (EAB) hides its eggs in bark crevices and tunnels deeply within trees — invisible to humans, but not to woodpeckers. They pick at the tree’s bark, searching for tasty grubs. Along with other research colleagues from the Northern Research Station, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the College of Saint Rose, Haight has developed a new model that combines a map of a city’s ash trees with a summary of their health. Multiple health categories denote unaffected, newly infested, and long-term infested trees. These highly specific categories improve upon previous models, allowing for more accurate forecasts of tree health. These forecasts help city planners economize EAB management. For example, they can decide where to protect healthy trees by inoculating them with insecticide and where to remove low-value specimens. Trees can endure infestations for a few years before exhibiting outward signs of damage, like yellowing leaves and dying branches. Once branches begin to die, insecticides may no longer prevent damage and death. Detecting vulnerable trees early gives arborists and others more opportunities for intervention. This new model, combined with other treatment options, informs and improves ash tree defense. Haight noted that tree care providers can track locations of potentially infested trees by searching for signs of the beetle ...
Finding Emerald Ash Borer: Watching Woodpeckers & Early ID
Robert Haight, a Forest Service researcher in St. Paul, Minnesota, has proposed a more strategic approach to saving ash trees: identifying beetle-infested trees before they show signs of damage. One way, he says, involves searching for woodpeckers. The emerald ash borer (EAB) hides its eggs in bark crevices and tunnels deeply within trees — invisible to humans, but not to woodpeckers. They pick at the tree’s bark, searching for tasty grubs. Along with other research colleagues from the Northern Research Station, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the College of Saint Rose, Haight has developed a new model that combines a map of a city’s ash trees with a summary of their health. Multiple health categories denote unaffected, newly infested, and long-term infested trees. These highly specific categories improve upon previous models, allowing for more accurate forecasts of tree health. These forecasts help city planners economize EAB management. For example, they can decide where to protect healthy trees by inoculating them with insecticide and where to remove low-value specimens. Trees can endure infestations for a few years before exhibiting outward signs of damage, like yellowing leaves and dying branches. Once branches begin to die, insecticides may no longer prevent damage and death. Detecting vulnerable trees early gives arborists and others more opportunities for intervention. This new model, combined with other treatment options, informs and improves ash tree defense. Haight noted that tree care providers can track locations of potentially infested trees by searching for signs of the beetle ...
Managing Emerald Ash Borer: An Update
An emerald ash borer (EAB) program report was released last week from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Here are some highlights: A proposal to remove the EAB domestic quarantine regulations is still awaiting its final rule. Published in September of 2018, the open comment period ended in November 2018 and comments and information are being reviewed. In keeping with USDA’s goal of reducing regulations that have outlived their usefulness, the proposal would end APHIS’ domestic regulatory activities, which includes actions such as—issuing permits, certificates, and compliance agreements; making site visits; and conducting investigations of suspected violations—and instead direct all available resources toward managing the pest (discussed below). Thirty-five states currently have at least some portion of their area under federal quarantine boundaries. Colorado’s Broomfield County is one of the latest additions. For a map of quarantine areas, click here. USDA is using natural enemies of the emerald ash borer to serve as biocontrol agents—the tiny stingless wasps are showing promise in a number of states, especially in terms of protecting young saplings. During the 2020 season, 578,803 parasitoids (such as tetrastichus planipennisi) were released in 31 new counties, bringing the total to 340 counties in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Parasitoids have established in at least 22 states. The rearing facility is able to produce about 750,000 parasitoids per year, and more than eight million parasitoids have been released to date. To learn how to debark ash tree logs to look for EAB ...
