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Somerville readying to chop down trees that might get infested by bright green killer bugs
By adamg on Mon, 05/16/2016 - 11:43am
First time seeing this in my neighborhood in Somerville. Bummer. #emeraldashborer #Invasivespecies pic.twitter.com/VsgdDprG6a
— Kelsey Graham (@woolcarderbee) May 12, 2016
Somerville officials have marked 155 trees across the city for destruction because they're at risk for infestation bye the emerald ash borer, an insect originally from China that kills trees by, well, boring through them. They were first spotted in the Boston area in a trap in the Arnold Arboretum in 2014.
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Comments
I've got just the guy for the job
Whatever happened to the Brighton Tree Ninja?
Funny you should mention him
I think he's currently in the care of the state.
Work-release program?
I mean, the guy seems to have one skill...
Irony
None of the trees on Ash Avenue are being cut down.
Willow Street getting whammed
Willow Street getting whammed though.
Unfortunate but necessary
When the invasives show up, you need to eradicate 'em. It's too bad that it will take so many trees, but the alternative is worse. Lose 'em now, or lose lots more later.
Keep 'em out
Keep invasive bugs out
Build a giant screen door.
Make China pay for it.
Looks like
Willow Ave. will be especially hard hit. I wonder if there's a plan to look at ash trees that are off the street, like in people's backyards.
Insurance mandate?
I feel like if the city and state have identified that trees in your city are infected and have to be removed, then your insurance should mandate your own trees be inspected for removal too. If you choose not to, then your home shouldn't be covered in the case that the tree dies and falls on your house.
Back when the Asian
Back when the Asian Longhorned Beetle was a problem some folks did come look at trees in the backyard of the house I was renting in JP. None of them had any issues so I don't know who would have had to pay for the tree removal in that instance.
This could have been prevented
I treat the ash trees at my mom's home annually. Imidacloprid.
Gotta do it prior to the borers showing up though.
What a pity--but this is typical MA bureaucracy---act only when it's too late.
A good arborist would have caught this before it got out of hand.
Yeah, who needs bees anyway?
Treatment with broad spectrum insecticides may be ok if you're protecting just a few specimen trees, but it's not really a viable option for preventing incursions into areas with large numbers of ash trees - either financially or ecologically.
I wonder if MA is considering introducing the EAB-specific parasitic wasps they've been having some luck with in Michigan.
biocontrols
Mass. is indeed releasing some of the parasitic wasps that control EAB, in areas where trees have become infested.
The imidacloprid or other pesticides used to protect a tree from EAB are injected, not sprayed, if timing is proper the impact to pollinators would be minimal, and certainly less so than the negative impact of no longer having that tree.
Injection not a barrier to pollinator exposure
To be effective, that injection happens early in the season, and much larger amounts are used than when spraying, and there is ample evidence that it migrates to blossoms.
cf Imidacloprid et al is being detected in bee gathered pollen here in MA.
We should probably consider following the EU's lead and take this stuff out of the retail mkt.
Hence the use of the term "minimal"
Proper timing and application of a systemic pesticide injection should minimize impact to pollinators. Imidacloprid is present in many different pesticide formulations, used for many different tasks, and if bee pollen shows pesticide residues, there is no study that links this directly to systemic injections (trunk or soil). Sometimes we need to make difficult decisions about protecting trees, protecting pollinators, protecting people, etc. and it involves weighing risks and facing issues that are not clearly black and white.
Also note that ememectin benzoate is often the pesticide of choice when treating for emerald ash borer.
If it's Somerville, the
If it's Somerville, the program will no doubt go 1 billion over budget. And then Gov. Baker will make them take the gold-plated bike lanes out of the tree-cutting plan.
That's not even an ash tree...
That's not an ash tree...and to my knowledge no EAB has been found in Somerville. That doesn't mean you shouldn't keep an eye out for it. But no idea why that tree has a paper about EAB taped to it...
Preventive measure
I went to a Somerville ResiStat meeting last night where this topic was discussed. The ash borer has indeed not been seen in Somerville yet, but the city is culling ash trees that it considers to be in poor health, because such trees can attract and spread the pest.
There are really 150 ailing ash trees in S'ville?
Were they a popular street tree at some point? Are they sparing any at all? I'm just surprised by the numbers.
Yes and yes
Ash were VERY popular street trees and I would say they are no longer :-).
Somerville intends to spare (and I think treat) some of their ash. Leaving them up when they are in poor health can create a hazard for people, cars, etc. if limbs start breaking.