Connecticut Agencies Plan Ahead For Tree-Eating Insects

Two invasive insects that attack and kill trees have infested areas of Massachusetts and New York in recent years. Connecticut is putting a plan in place that specifies the role of different state agencies --- if these insects were to be found in Connecticut. WNPR’s Nancy Cohen reports.

The Asian Long Horned Beetle and the Emerald Ash Borer are native to Asia. Neither have natural predators here. The Asian Long Horned Beetle infested an area in Massachusetts about 12 miles form Connecticut where 30,000 infected trees had to be cut down. And the Emerald Ash Borer was found 25 miles from the state, in New York. About 30% of all of Connecticut’s trees are vulnerable to these insects.  The Agricultural Experiment Station and Connecticut’s environmental agency have signed an agreement authorizing Environmental Conservation or “EnCon” police to enforce quarantines of wood and nursery trees, if either of the beetles is found here. Chris Martin is the Director of the state’s Division of Forestry

“EnCon officers and inspectors would be entering private property  looking at trees. Vehicles with wood, if they were to leave the quarantine area, would actually be pulled over, as if they were violating a traffic law and returned to the quarantined area. There are significant  fines that go along with that.”

The goal of a quarantine would be to stop these insects from spreading to new areas.

For WNPR, I’m Nancy Cohen.