Then in 2002, a voracious visitor from Asia, the emerald ash borer, was found to be killing the trees.

The worst-affected neighborhoods were transformed, as wooden skeletons dotted yards where the grand trees once stood.

Then came chain saws, and whole blocks turned barren. Fifty-year-old neighborhoods suddenly took on the look of a freshly built subdivision waiting for a delivery of trees.

?EUR??,,????'??I had old people crying in the streets,?EUR??,,????'?? recalled Tom Wilson, director of public works in Westland.

As it spread across Michigan, the bug also moved to Ohio, Indiana and Ontario. Then it jumped to Maryland and Virginia, and most recently, to Illinois. In Michigan alone, the loss of more than 15 million trees has been attributed to the emerald ash borer.

Given its mobile ways, most experts agree it will soon strike Wisconsin, with its 700 million ash trees, and where 30 percent of all street trees are varieties of ash.

Weak pines by the thousands now are falling victim to the devastating pine bark beetle The compromised pines also release gases that attract more beetles by the thousands per tree. Afterward, it only takes about one month for the beetles to kill the tree. A pine that is 100 feet tall dies as fast as one 10 feet tall.

It is extremely unusual for pine bark beetles to attack pines in June, as happened this year. Beetle outbreaks usually follow hot, dry summer conditions, which progressively weaken the pines. Yet Hurricane Rita was a prelude to this spring?EUR??,,????'???s unusual drought and heat, so the stage has been set for a beetle epidemic.

Leigh Beamesderfer, a naturalist and forester for the Lebanon County Conservation District, has completed her inspection of the county based on residents?EUR??,,????'??? reports of the presence of the voracious moth, whose larvae can quickly defoliate entire hillsides.

?EUR??,,????'??I have conducted all of the field checks and put together eight spray blocks, covering an estimated 2,857 acres, which I have just sent to the county and DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources),?EUR??,,????'?? she said.

At the state?EUR??,,????'???s latest estimate of $35 per acre, it will cost nearly $100,000 to spray the county?EUR??,,????'???s affected areas. Where that money will come from is still a question, Beamesderfer said. No state or federal money has been allocated for a spraying program, despite the urging of DCNR officials and promises from Gov. Ed Rendell?EUR??,,????'???s administration.

Beamesderfer spent her summer urging county residents to report evidence of the moths, especially the presence of the insect?EUR??,,????'???s tan, thumb-sized egg sacs.

Sudden oak death has killed more than 1 million oak trees in 14 counties along the California and Oregon coast since it was first reported a decade ago.

The Energy Department?EUR??,,????'???s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek and an army of other institutions have discovered that the pathogens that cause soybean root rot disease and sudden oak death are well-armed.

Nearly half of the bugs?EUR??,,????'??? genes are involved in infecting their victims, a much higher percentage than with other pathogens. In addition to this vast arsenal, the microbes are quick evolvers.

?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s the genetic arms race between the plant and the pathogen where they?EUR??,,????'???re changing their genes rapidly to find better ways to attack and better ways to defend,?EUR??,,????'?? said evolutionary genomicist Jeffrey Boore at JGI.

And if the root weevil is living the good life, it can survive for up to 18 months.

This insect is such trouble, it has its own ?EUR??,,????'???EUR??,,????'???Wanted?EUR??,,????'????EUR??,,????'??? posters, joining the likes of the fruit fly, gypsy moth and bark beetle.

The hemlock woolly adelgid has been attacking hemlock trees, which are popular landscape evergreens and an important component of hardwood forests in northern Michigan.

A landscaper recently alerted officials about white, cottony masses on hemlocks that had been planted in 2003 at four sites in Harbor Springs. The trees came from the same nursery in West Virginia. It marks the first time the insect has been discovered on Michigan?EUR??,,????'???s native hemlock trees, the Detroit Free Press reported in September.

According to insect geneticist Wayne Hunter, what?EUR??,,????'???s so telling about the insect?EUR??,,????'???s ?EUR??,,????'??frass,?EUR??,,????'?? is that it has a genetic signature that?EUR??,,????'???s totally unique to the beetle. Hunter works in the agency?EUR??,,????'???s Subtropical Insects Research Unit at Fort Pierce, Fla.

?EUR??,,????'??I found that the majority of the red gum eucalyptus trees have been severely infested with a pest called red gum lerp psyllid (Glycaspis brimblecombei).?EUR??,,????'??

Hunsaker said in his report that he found about 120 dead eucalyptuses in the grove:

?EUR??,,????'??The pest causes severe damage to the foliage with defoliation occurring, which in turn weakens the tree, resulting in decline and dieback usually resulting in the death of the tree.?EUR??,,????'??

Hunsaker said there was a potential for serious injury, because of ?EUR??,,????'??potential failure by one of the dead trees or large dead branches.?EUR??,,????'??