Stowed away in a dark cargo hold heading for the USA it sleeps and waits. Upon docking, this stowaway is carried by forklift to waiting trucks where it rides to unknown destinations, still sleeping and waiting. After reaching its final unknown destination, (the long trip from China at an end), the stowaway emerges from deep within crates and pallets and quickly flies to its new home.

Here begins a course of destruction with no known remedy. The new destructive threat will not be realized until the following spring either. This is when such alien stowaways emerge from the inner core of their host, the trunks of hardwood trees. The Asian Longhorned Beetle has landed in America and every treasured hardwood tree is at risk of destruction and death.

The ALB, as it is referred to by the United States Department of Agriculture, was first discovered in 1996 in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, New York. Within two weeks another discovery of an ALB presence was made on Long Island, New York in a town called Amityville. USDA officials learned that the infestation in Amityville originated from infected wood that was transported from Greenpoint. A national campaign for public awareness and a quarantine of wood movement from within the infected areas was immediately implemented.

Where did the Asian Longhorned Beetle originate from and how did it enter the USA?

The United Stated Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) used their systematic approach and traced back the origin of the ALB to infested shipments of solid wood packing materials, such as crates and pallets, from China. The volume of pallets and crates entering this country on a daily basis has increased tremendously due to the increase in trade with China over the past 13 years making this present situation cause for concern. At the time of the discovery there were no regulations requiring these materials be treated before being exported to the United States.

Despite the 1996 national public awareness campaign and wood movement quarantine, 1998 saw a new infestation emerge in the Ravenswood area of Chicago. APHIS immediately amended its existing quarantine of wood movement in infected areas and placed additional restrictions on importing packing material from China and Hong Kong. Wood packing materials now must be completely free of bark and show no evidence of insect- hole damage. The tremendous amount of cargo entering this country makes it impossible for APHIS agents to inspect every crate and pallet, however, beefed up inspections as well as numerous surprise inspections targeting high risk importers has resulted in the discovery of Asian Longhorned Beetle and other wood-boring insects posing risks.

To date the USDA has been able to contain the outbreak to the three original areas in Brooklyn, Long Island and Chicago, but without the help of the public, the containment area boundaries can spread rapidly, with the possibility of over $650 billion in losses.

The Asian Longhorned Beetle is a serious threat to trees here in the United States. There are no known treatments and no known predators to combat this pest. The only treatment to contain the spread of the ALB is the total removal and destruction of the infected tree. Trees that are found to be infested are immediately cut, chipped and burned.

Asian Longhorned Beetles are 1 to 1-1/2 inches long, have a bullet shape, are black and shiny with white spots and have very long distinguishable antennae that are banded with black and white. Females chew depressions in the bark of hardwood trees including maple, birch, horse chestnut, poplar, willow, elm, ash and black locust. Here she can lay from 35 to 90 eggs. In 10 - 15 days, worm-like immature beetles hatch and tunnel their way under the bark and bore into the healthy hardwood. During the fall and winter the beetle larvae feed on living tree tissue and, after pupating, emerge through exit holes during the spring. The now adult beetles feed on the trees exterior for 2 - 3 days, then mate. These adult beetles will be active only during the summer and early fall months before dieing, completing a one year cycle.

Damage to hardwood trees is substantial. The tell-tale signs are perfectly round exit holes somewhat larger than a pencil that may ooze sap, deposits of insect waste and sawdust may collect at the trunk and tree-limb bases, dime-sized dimpled impressions in the bark where egg deposits can be found, and unseasonable yellowing or drooping of leaves even when the weather has not been dry. Death of the tree occurs when the pathway that carries water and nutrients has been eaten through.

The USDA implemented a preventative measures program in their battle against the ALB using the systemic insecticide Imidacloprid on non-infested trees in the quarantine area. This is the same insecticide used on rice, cereal, and vegetables and is also as a flea and grub treatment in lawns. Concerns arouse about the use of this insecticide on the environment and the USDA assured everyone that the environment is minimally affected because Imidacloprid residue is restricted to the tree. Last spring a total of 60,000 non-infested trees, nearly 36,000 trees in the Chicago area alone, were treated using Imidacloprid. Once a tree has been diagnosed as having an ALB infestation it is immediately cut, chipped and incinerated. Nearly 7,900 trees have been destroyed in the combined areas and there are no exceptions.

Public protests and outcries were heard on Long Island in Amityville, NY when the village's landmark, a 200-year old Chinese Elm, was marked for destruction because of an Asian Longhorned Beetle infestation. The town residents did everything they could to prevent the downing of this majestic Elm but the beetle claimed another victim. According to the USDA, there are no alternatives but to totally remove and completely destroy the infested tree. Because the Asian Longhorned Beetle burrows deep within the tree the majority of the year, ALB can easily and unknowingly be moved in firewood or fallen timber.

Under their own power, the ALB can fly greater than 400 yards to another host tree. Pruning infected parts of the tree is ineffective because inspectors, during routine outings, have found more larvae than eggs in an egg site, helping to confuse where exactly the adults are on any given part of the tree. The USDA is unrelenting and insists the best way so far to insure no further outbreaks is to take down the entire tree and burn it.

I asked The New York State Department of Agriculture if there was any other alternative available to a homeowner if an infested tree was found on their property?

New York State's Department of Agriculture could not stress enough the importance of reporting suspected ALB infested trees. Allowing infested trees to remain provides the potential for the continuous destruction of surrounding trees and encourages Asian Longhorned Beetle propagation. Their remedy was the same as the USDA's, total removal and incineration of the infested tree. To insure no reoccurrence they suggest replacing the tree with a non-host variety.

The combined efforts of APHIS, The US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, NY State Department of Agriculture and the Chicago Bureau of Forestry has kept the Asian Longhorned Beetle confined to the originally discovered areas, but they also need the help of the public.

The Asian Longhorned Beetle has landed in America and every hardwood tree is at risk. The USDA is presently researching Imidacloprid's effects on ALB infestations and various trapping methods that may work. China is steadily working on ways to eradicate the pest as well.

With public awareness and cooperation with reporting and destroying infested trees the Asian Longhorned Beetle can be contained. This in turn will give the agencies time to come up with an effective battle plan to win the war against this most dangerous intruder.