Mass. Tree Quarantine

Asian longhorned beetles, an invasive species native to China appeared in Worcester, Mass. in August. They have the potential to cause more damage to hardwood trees than gypsy moth caterpillars, Dutch elm disease, and chestnut blight combined, experts say.

Worcester is the focus of US Department of Agriculture’s inspections. However, because trees in Boylston and Shrewsbury are within a mile and a half of infested trees, portions of the two towns were added to the inspection and quarantine area.

The surest way to eradicate the bug, said experts, is to cut down the infested trees, plus all other susceptible trees within a quarter-mile radius, and grind all that timber into little pieces. The bugs favor maple trees, but also attack elm, birch, and other common local species, but leave alone oaks and evergreens.

Walter Magnusson, owner of Shrewsbury-based WM Tree and Stump Co., said the bugs are already slowing his business. Few homeowners living in the quarantine zone want their trees cut down if he can’t move them off their property, he said. Other landowners don’t want him to cut down trees because the state might do so for free if beetles are found close by. “There is a drop-off of calls in the quarantine area,” said Magnusson.

Of course, if the state decides to fell trees on a mass scale, Magnusson said, he could profit from the contracts that officials might offer. But he would derive little pleasure from that job, he said.

“Even without this infestation, there would be plenty of work for the next generation of tree cutters,” he said. “I would just hate to see a whole area devastated and clear cut. Most tree guys, we love trees. We really do.”

Source: Boston Globe