Starting Monday, tree surveyors from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture will inspect trees in the Hamilton Park area for the Asian Longhorned Beetle. According to Kim Maialetti, spokesperson for the NJDA, tree inspections will be conducted weather permitting and involve tree climbers from the department.
“We would like to stress to residents in the affected area that only residential trees that have been found to be infested will be removed,” said Maialetti.
The Asian Longhorned Beetle was first discovered last month in the Newport area of Jersey City when a local resident saw one of the creatures flying from one tree limb to another.
“The NJDA and the United States Department of Agriculture began an investigation in the area almost immediately after the sighting,’ said Carl P. Schulze, acting director for the division of plant industry in the NHDA. Schulze was one of three representatives from the NJDA and the USDA who spoke to Newport and downtown resident Tuesday night in City Hall.
The NJDA quickly declared a quarantine zone encompassing the Newport and Riverfront sections of Jersey City, Schulze said. No wood or timber can be removed from the area, in order to prevent further spread of the wood consuming insect. The quarantine zone stretches north from 11th street in Hoboken southward to Grand Street in Jersey City. The Hudson River is the eastern limit of the quarantine zone, with westward extension to Summit Avenue.
“The Asian Longhorned Beetle is a serious threat to hardwood trees,” said Barry Emens of the plant protection division of the USDA. “They attack many different hard wood trees, including Norway, sugar and red maples, birches, poplars and willows.”
Emens added approximately 101 trees in the Newport area have been diagnosed with Asian Longhorned Beetle infestation. The only way to rid infested areas of the voracious insects is to cut down and chip the trees, destroying the larvae that eventually grow into the mature beetle.
“The female beetle chews out small depressions in the trees and deposit between 35 to 90 eggs,” said Emens. “The hatched larvae eat the surface of the wood before burrowing into the hardwood portion of the trunk.”
The beetle larvae pupate for the winter, which Emens called the “resting” stage. The fully grown beetle eats its way out of the host tree, leaving behind a small, three-eighths of an inch hole in the trunk, Emens added.
“The Asian Longhorned does not discriminate between old and new trees,” Emens stated. “They will colonize the healthiest hardwood trees in the area.”
Beetle anthology
Emens gave a brief history of the Asian Longhorned Beetle in the United States.
“The Longhorned Beetle was first discovered in the country much the same way as it was discovered in Jersey City,” Emens said. “In 1996, a person in the Chicago area saw large holes in trees. At first they thought it was vandalism.”
An investigation by the USDA found that it was, in fact, an infestation of the Asian Longhorned Beetle, Eddings added. Agricultural authorities are still unsure how the beetle first arrived in the United States from its Asian homeland. One scenario, suggested by Emens, was that the insect was embedded in the wood packaging of the support of a pipe fitting which was imported from China.
Two years later, evidence of infestation was found near Lake Michigan. “It was brought into the area by a contractor who had hauled brush to a disposal area,” Emens explained. “We traced the brush back to the contractor and began cleanup efforts from there.”
Emens said efforts to eradicate the beetle from the Lake Michigan area have been successful and it is likely the efforts will cease next year.
“In 2001, two trees in Central Park were found to be infested,” said Emens. “They were removed and chipped.”
Since then, no trees in New York City have been found to have the beetle.
“We’re not sure how the Asian Longhorned Beetle got to Jersey City,” said Schulze. “It may have come across the river or it may have been in packing material. Before the discovery in Newport, New York City was the epicenter of Longhorned Beetle infestation. Newport is now the epicenter.”
Tree inspections, such as the ones that will be conducted in the Hamilton Park area, are done in four sections, stated Paul Kurtz, an entomologist with the NJDA.
“First there is the annual intensive survey,” Kurtz explained. “This is done within a half a mile from the epicenter of the quarantine zone. The inspections are done by ground crews, tree climbers and men in bucket trucks.”
If any infestation is found at this point, the survey area is extended one mile from the core of the quarantine zone, Kurtz stated. Kurtz said the area of 11th Street in Hoboken will eventually be included in the survey.
“We then conduct a High Risk Infection survey,” said Kurtz. “In this instance, wood that has been moved out of the area of quarantine is inspected..”
In the third and fourth portions of the inspections, commercial and residential trees are looked over for possible infestation. According to Kurtz, trees on commercial property in the Hamilton Park and Newport areas have already been inspected and no new infestations have been found.
“We are asking for the help of people who live in the Hamilton Park area with the survey,” said Schulze. “We need you to allow tree surveyors into your yards.”
Schulze said tree inspectors will wear yellow and orange vests, with identification badges. The inspectors will wear hats carrying NJDA and USDA patches above the visors.
“This is not just a Newport problem or a Jersey City problem” said Schulze. “This is a national problem that could endanger the hardwood forests of America.”
Christine Markham, director of the USDA’s National Asian Longhorned Beetle program, estimated the cost of damage to urban forests if the beetle were to spread would be $669 billion.
“This would be for the removal and replacement of trees around the country,” Markham said. “That cost does not include what damage could be done to the timber, logging and syrup industries.”
“I’m definitely going to let them do the survey in my area,” said Jersey City resident Joseph Curran, who attended the meeting on Tuesday. “You’d have to be crazy not to.”
“The city has put a lot of money into our parks and public space,” said Jersey City Deputy Mayor Anthony Cruz. “And we do not want to lose those trees.”
For information on the trees surveys and the Asian Longhorned Beetle, contact the USDA at (609) 259-8650 and the NJDA at (609) 292-5540. The information Web site for the Asian Longhorned Beetle is www.aphis.usda.gov.