USDA Declares August "Tree Check Month" to Fight Asian Longhorned Beetle
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animals and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has declared August “Tree Check Month” to encourage the public to examine trees for signs of the Asian longhorned beetle. The beetles bore through tissues that carry water and nutrients throughout the tree, starving and weakening the tree until it dies.
“The sooner we can find infested trees, the sooner we can save non-infested trees,” said Rhonda Santos, USDA-APHIS’s ALB public information officer, said in a statement. “We’re asking the public to be aware of how to detect ALB infestations, to check their trees and report any suspicions.”
Signs of beetle infestation are dime-sized exit holes, shallow scars in the bark, sawdust-like materials in the ground or branches, dead branches and the beetle itself.
More information on the Asian longhorned beetle as well as how to report infestations is available here.
Source: Hardwood Floors: The magazine of the National Wood Flooring Association. See original post here.