From the State News, by Tina Reed
About three years ago, U.S. Forest Service researcher Leah Bauer was studying the Chinese long-horned beetle in China, when she heard an Asian beetle called the emerald ash borer had established itself in Michigan.
Since then, the ash borer has spread to 28 U.S. counties, including 20 in Michigan, and has damaged millions of ash trees, Bauer said.
Last month, researchers identified a small wasp, called the Balcha wasp, that might be key in finding the solution to the destruction.
The wasp feeds on the emerald ash borer larvae.
"We can't think of eradication, but we're thinking suppression," Bauer said. "This will be a problem as long as we have ash trees."
Earlier studies were done with another type of wasp, which laid its eggs on ash borer larvae, but the effect was minimal.
In a 2003 Michigan Emerald Ash Borer Natural Enemy Survey, only 0.3 percent of ash borers were parasitized by the wasp.
The emerald ash borer is an exotic beetle that is believed to have traveled from China to the United States after boring into wood used for wooden pallets that transport heavy materials, said Robert Haack, a researcher from the U.S. Forest Service and an adjunct professor of entomology.
When ash borer larvae begin to grow, it chews tunnels beneath the bark of trees until it emerges as an adult through a signature D-shaped exit hole. Its process damages key water and nutrient transport systems.
"If we had caught this earlier, we might have had a chance," Bauer said. Between 15 and 30 percent of all trees in urban Michigan cities are ash trees, service research shows, Haack said.
Jennifer Quimby, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Agriculture, said the emerald ash borer was most likely in Michigan five to seven years before it was noticed.
"Despite substantial progress in 2004, Michigan's fight against the emerald ash borer is just beginning," Quimby said.
The department is aggressively focusing on protection, containment, eradication and restoration, she said.
"We'll be working with industry professionals to find some value for the wood from ash trees," she said. Some of the damaged wood might go to the creation of chair spindles, baseball bats and pens.
"We're doing our best to make lemonade with lemons," she said.
As Michigan residents work to combat the species and save ash trees, other states are fighting to keep the ash borer from establishing themselves.
The ash borer was found in Maryland after a Michigan resident sold infected trees from a quarantined area to a Maryland nursery, said Michael Gates, a research entomologist for the Systematic Entomology Lab under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The main way the ash borer has been spreading is through the activity of humans, Gates said.
The ash borer could be comparable to the Dutch elm disease, which was introduced in the 1930s and nearly destroyed almost all the American elm trees, he said.
"All ash in the United States could be at risk," Gates said.
Haack said there are different ways to treat wood before it is transported, such as heating or using certain chemicals.
Meanwhile, researchers are constantly searching for species that are likely to travel and establish themselves in the United States, he said.
"It's a worldwide problem," Haack said. "If you trade with another country, it's a good chance you get pests from that country."
