A Modern-Day Plague Is Invading Nebraska And It's Decimating Thousands
By Delana Lefevers|Published August 04, 2016
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Delana Lefevers
Author
As a lifelong Nebraskan, Delana loves discovering the many hidden treasures of her state. She has worked as a writer and editor since 2007. Delana's work has been featured on more than a dozen websites and in Nebraska Life Magazine.
There’s a plague spreading across the US, and it’s causing unimaginable amounts of death and destruction every step of the way. But this isn’t a human disease; it’s an insidious pest that could destroy up to 10 percent of the trees in Nebraska – around 4.4 million trees.
The emerald ash borer, or EAB, is native to eastern Asia. The jewel green beetle eats the leaves of ash trees, but that's not where the destruction happens. The devastation occurs when they lay their eggs beneath the bark and the larvae feed on the tender inner bark. The tunnels they create disrupt the trees' "plumbing system," essentially starving them of water and nutrients over a period of years until they die.
The insects don't cause massive destruction in their native Asia because trees there have evolved some degree of immunity to their effects, and natural predators limit their numbers. But when they were accidentally transported to North America - probably in solid wood packing materials from Asia - they found ash trees that were completely vulnerable. The U.S. infestation appears to have started in Michigan in the summer of 2002. Since then, it has spread to most of the midwest, into the south, and is now making its way into the Great Plains. The presence of EAB was first confirmed in Nebraska in June of 2016.
These D-shaped holes in the bark indicate the presence of EAB. According to the Nebraska Forest Service, about one in every ten trees in Nebraska is an ash tree. With 44 million trees in the state, that means that more than 4 million trees will be affected. Since there is no way to stop the EAB infestation entirely, we can expect almost complete devastation of ash tree species. There is no question as to whether the bug will spread to the rest of Nebraska; the invasion will continue to expand. But the infestation is somewhat slow moving, so people in western Nebraska will probably not have to worry about EAB for several years.
However, there's a very good chance the EAB have invaded other parts of Nebraska already. An infestation can only be detected after the bugs have been there for several years already. The Nebraska Forest Service says that once an infestation is confirmed, about 80 percent of ash trees in the area will be dead within a decade.
While you can’t kill the emerald ash borers, there are some treatments that can be applied to trees within a 15-mile radius of a confirmed infestation site. The treatment isn’t guaranteed to save the trees, but for very old or valuable ash trees it could give them a fighting chance. One of the best ways you can help control the EAB spread is to avoid transporting firewood; when you go camping, buy or gather your wood at your destination rather than bringing it with you.
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