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Re: TT: Tree Quarantine in New York

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I don't know specifically about the quarantine.  But hear is what I do
know about the longhorn beetle.

A couple of years ago someone who can identify a longhorn beetle was
called out by a resident in Brooklyn to take a look at a big bug in the
tree outside of her house.  The critter was identified and tracked down to
a bunch of imported logs which had been shipped to NYC and Long Island
(the island on which Brooklyn, Queens sit).  

Last year, the Parks Department (official owner of the street trees and
the the department which regulates all privately owned trees) informed a
large part of Northern Brooklyn/Queens that all the maples (and some other
species as well) would be chopped down.

Apparently long horn beetles love maple trees.  One of the big
agricultural products of New York and New England is maple
syrup/sugar/candy etc.  not to mention tourism for "fall colors" by which
many people mean the maple trees' fall colors.  

But as pest control goes, no one wants to let anything out of the city(if
it can be contained to Long Island it will literally have to cross a
bridge or hitch a ride on a ferry to get to the mainland).  I haven't
heard of any cases in the Bronx (the only part of the city
physically connected to the rest of the US.

As I ramble, I would tend to think that the bigger containment problem
comes from Long Island where there are largeish farms (including tree
farms).  I can't think of any nurseries except ones that the parks
department runs anywhere in the city (maybe Staten Island has a couple).

The good news is that if you see a longhorn beetle you'll know you are
seeing it (its big).  The bad news is that if you see one its probably too
late.  I like to remind myself as I walk through the maple trees in the
state parks of New York that I should really be walking through Chestnuts
but that they too were wiped out because of sloppy importing.

Lisa

On Tue, 18 Nov 1997, Thomas W. Kimmerer wrote:

>  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> APHIS, the health inspection service of the USDA, is preparing to quarantine the movement of trees and tree parts in the New York City area, in an effort to control the spread of the Asian longhorn beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis Motschulsky.
> 
> More information can be obtained from the Tree News section of the TreeWeb, at:
> 	http://quercus.uky.edu/treeweb/treenews.htm
> 
> 
> I will add more information as it comes in. The quarantine becomes effective December 15.  Does anyone in the NYC area know any more details?
> 
> 
> Tom Kimmerer
> Forest Biologist
> University of Kentucky
> 105 TP Cooper Bldg
> Lexington KY 40546
> Ph  (606)257-1824
> Fax (606)323-1031
> tkimmer@pop.uky.edu
> Visit the TreeWeb at http://quercus.uky.edu
> 
>  ==============================[TreeTown]===============================
> 

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