Strange Highway Billboards & the Ash Borer Beetle
Yes, we are talking about the Emerald Ash Borer again. Have you seen these signs along I95 and the rest of the city? And as bizzarre as pledging not to move firewood sounds, especially in a serious context with a child next to bold type reading “I Promise”…which of course immediately makes me think the billboard is about a more serious topic such as child abuse or the like, at least it can bring us back to updating you here at AYRTE on the happenings of the beetle thus far this year.
This highly destructive and exotic beetle frequently spreads through transporting infested firewood. Once introduced to new areas, they quickly become established and threaten local tree resources. According to officials and these informative billboards, by purchasing locally harvested firewood and burning all wood on site, campers can help minimize this risk.
There’s more though.
Homeowners throughout the northeast struggle with the decision to either remove their Ash trees or continue treating them every year while the beetle threat continues. Big parks like the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, Canada are trying to preserve seeds from every Ash tree specimen on their land, just in case. And purple two-foot long triangular boxes have been noted hanging from trees in Michigan. These early detection devices or tracking systems have been set up by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct surveys in 47 states, according to the Michigan Department of Agriculture. The color purple is significant because the beetles are more attracted to red and purple.
The Emerald Ash Borer is a small, metallic-green, wood-boring beetle that was discovered in Michigan in 2002. It is native to Asia and is believed to have been unknowingly transported to the United States in wood packing material. Since its discovery, it has been detected in six other states – Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Federal and State quarantines have been established in these states to mitigate the spread of the Ash Borer…hence, the strange highway billboards.
Source:
http://baltimoresbesttreeservice.com/wordpress/?p=128
http://www.thefencepost.com/article/20090529/NEWS/905279983/1001
http://www.dailypress.net/page/content.detail/id/513769.html?nav=5003
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20090705/NEWS03/307059963
http://wcco.com/local/emerald.ash.borer.2.1041359.html
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Travel/Emerald+borer+invasion/1695991/story.html
We’re history buffs here and love getting over to PA to visit Gettysburg’s battlefield. You might suspect that the landscape has changed quite a bit since 1863 and to your most dedicated of civil war historians the time has come to trim back a lot of the woods that has grown up since that time.