Take a look at a couple of dramatic before and after photos of one Worcester street that's had all its trees cut down and ground into a fine powder in the war against the Asian Longhorned Beetles.
Via Daily Worcesteria.
Yeah, you think you know your Asian Longhorned Beetles? Jennifer Forman Orth dares you to pick out the real Asian Longhorned Beetle from a series of photos of longhorned beetles. Because it turns out:
Massachusetts is home to many insects that could be confused with the invasive Asian longhorned beetle, including several native longhorned beetle species.
Loser gets a bug slug.
Worcester Beetle Battle Reaches Destructive Phase.
I've probably been following the whole beetle thing more closely than somebody living nowhere near Worcester should, but I must admit I'm linking to that story mainly because, like pretty much every other account today, the headline uses the phrase "Beetle battle" and I can't stop repeating that: Beetle battle. Beetle battle. Beetle battle.
The Herald's Dave Wedge goes through Deval Patrick's 32-page wish list of infrastructure projects he hopes to have his pal Obama stimulate and finds several "potential pork projects," including:
$6 million to replace 20,000 trees damaged by "beetle infestation."
Nice use of quotation marks there, Dave. Never heard of the Asian Longhorned Beetle and how the feds are trying to prevent it from spreading from Worcester to, oh, every single maple tree in New England? Perhaps, as Worcester cuts down all those trees (well, the ones that didn't fall down last week), some enterprising arborists will save all the beetles they find and mail them to Wedge. After they've been killed, of course.
As if Worcester didn't already have enough problems, now comes word that residents in the beetle quarantine area are not being allowed to remove downed tree limbs:
Residents inside the Asian Longhorned beetle quarantine area have been told not to cut or remove limbs, because it could actually spread an infestation. Residents who move debris from the quarantine area face fines.
Orth, herself involved in the fight against the demonspawn insects, reports the US Department of Agriculture is extending hours at a special disposal site for wood too large to be chipped by certified companies. She adds:
... This storm is yet another reminder of the damage that Asian longhorned beetle has already done in our state. These wood-boring beetles weaken trees from the inside, making it less likely that trees can survive natural disturbances without suffering damage. Larvae remain active inside the wood for most of the winter. ...
Daily Worcesteria reports some towns in northern Worcester County may not get all their power back until next week and that there isn't a hotel room in all of Worcester to be had as powerless residents seek someplace warm for the night.
Meanwhile, several Worcester radio stations remained off the air as of noontime. WXLO came back live around 11 a.m., but ever since Zito left Jen, who cares?
Asian Longhorned Beetles on the march eastward; how long before they breach 495 and then 128?
Daily Worcesteria photographs the first tree in Worcester taken down because it's infested with the dread Asian Longhorned Beetle - which Channel 4 reports could cost $100 million to eradicate from the city.
Bonus fun Massachusetts bug invasion fact: Gypsy moths were introduced to the U.S. by a Medford resident who thought he could use the cocoons spun by their caterpillars to replace silk. He was wrong and the caterpillars, of course, turned into moths and flew away.
Jennifer Forman Orth provides some helpful hints for calming your jittery nerves when looking at what seems to be a tree ravaged by these dread invaders. For example: They don't eat oak trees.
Worcester Magazine captures, photographs its very own Asian Longhorned Beetle, then fails to tell us how they promptly incinerated it in a blinding ball of flame, let alone filed a report with state creepy-crawly monitors. Maybe they plan to take him home and love him and hug him and pet him and squeeze him and call him George.
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