NEWPORT CITY, A public meeting at the Gateway Center in Newport City last week brought together state and local foresters to discuss the ongoing management of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), an invasive beetle first detected in Orleans County in 2019.
Orleans County Forester Jared Nunery said the beetle population has remained stable in Derby Line since its discovery, but infestations have since been confirmed in Newport City, Troy, and Jay.
Joanne Garton, community forester with the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR), noted that ash trees make up 5-7 percent of all tree species nationwide, with some regions having up to 70 percent ash. She warned that the beetle is costly to manage in urban settings, similar to Dutch elm disease in the 1950s and 1960s.
The University of Vermont Extension Service’s Forest Pest Education Coordinator, Ginger Nickerson, said the EAB is native to east Asia and was first confirmed in Detroit in 2002. It has since spread to 38 states and six Canadian provinces, often through firewood transport. Each female beetle lays 40-70 eggs that remain in the tree for up to two years before chewing out, leaving small round holes.
Nickerson outlined three management strategies: preemptive removal and replacement; selective insecticide treatment for high-value trees; and delayed reactive management, which she said is more expensive. Insecticides can kill up to 97 percent of targeted beetles but must be reapplied every two to three years.
FPR is also using bio-control, parasitoid wasps from Asia that lay eggs on EAB eggs and larvae. The wasps have been released at 14 sites, including Jay State Forest, with six sites now retired due to apparent eradication. Nunery said municipalities tend to remove damaged trees while woodlot owners can use seedlings from female trees to regenerate stands. “There is some hope for the future,” he said.
Originally reported by Newport Daily Express.
Photo: Alan Emery via Unsplash. Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
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