US Department of Agriculture (APHIS) | USDA announces 2023 plans to eradicate the Asian longhorn beetle in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and South Carolina
Contacts:
Rhonda Santos
[email protected]
Susan M Bond
[email protected]
WASHINGTON, April 11, 2023 – The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announces plans for 2023 to control infestations of Asian longhorn beetles (ALB) in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and South Carolina. . Each year, APHIS and its partners evaluate and determine the most effective options for pest eradication from the United States.
“We need people who live in and around ALB infestations to help research and report the damage the beetle causes to trees,” said Josie Ryan, APHIS National Operations Director for the Asian Longhorn Beetle Eradication Program. “By looking at your trees and reporting any suspicious tree damage, you can help us find the beetle sooner and eradicate it faster.”
This year, the ALB program will focus on screening trees in quarantine areas in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and South Carolina, and removing infected trees at no cost to property owners. The program will not apply insecticide treatments this year. Program officers will monitor beetle presence and movement of woodlice in and around each infested area, conduct trainings for compliance agreement holders, respond to calls for help, and conduct outreach. APHIS will also continue to develop new methods for beetle eradication.
Persons who live and work in quarantine areas may not move regulated items, such as firewood (of all types of hardwoods), nursery stock, woody debris (dead or alive), and green timber from all host ALB trees, out of the area without complying with the agreement. permit or certificate. All ALB host trees are regulated and include maple, elm, willow, birch, poplar, buckeye/horse, ash, sycamore, mimosa, goldenrain tree, katsura, and mountain ash.
State and federal officials monitor the movement of timber in and around regulated areas to enforce quarantines and may impose fines on individuals and businesses that do not comply with the regulations. A business or person who wishes to move regulated materials out of the quarantine area may: (i) enter into a compliance agreement with the program and obtain the necessary permit or certification for those materials, or (ii) request program personnel to inspect the materials and issue the permit or certification required directly. To register for the free compliance training, please contact your local office:
- In Massachusetts, call 508-852-8110.
- In New York, call 631-288-1751.
- In Ohio, call 513-381-7180.
- In South Carolina, call 843-973-8329.
People who live in an ALB quarantine area can help by:
- Allow eradication program officials access to your property to inspect trees and remove any infested trees found.
- Contract with tree or landscape companies that have compliance agreements with the eradication program to ensure woody material is properly disposed of.
- Contact your local or municipal eradication program office for information about yard waste disposal procedures for removing woody materials such as branches, logs, and logs from your property.
- Contact your local eradication program office before moving any tree material, live trees, or nursery stock that could be infested with ALB.
- Buy or collect firewood responsibly where you will burn it or use certified heat-treated firewood because moving firewood can spread the beetle.
The ALB program has decimated the ALB’s invasion of Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; New Jersey; Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Islip in New York; and part of East Fork State Park, the Ohio towns of Stonelick and Monroe.
Currently, 288.4 square miles are under federal quarantine for ALB in the United States: 110 square miles in Worcester County, Massachusetts; 53 square miles in the middle of Long Island, New York; 49 square miles in Claremont County, Ohio; and 76.4 square miles in Charleston and Dorchester counties, South Carolina. For more information about beetle activities and the program, please call the ALB toll-free hotline at 1-866-702-9938 or visit www.aphis.usda.gov/pests-diseases/alb.
ALB ablation programs are collaborative. APHIS works with the USDA’s Forestry and Agricultural Research Service, and state partners. State partners include the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Department of Agricultural Resources; New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets; Clemson University Department of Plant Industry
College of Charleston; and the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Department of Natural Resources, Claremont County, and The Ohio State University.
additional information
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