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November 14, 2008

Terrorists in insect form?

By Leigh Greenwood

In November 13th Land Letter, a natural resources weekly online report, the focus was on forest pests. The Asian longhorned beetles of Worcester got top billing, with a good mention of firewood. Here's a quote:

(Donna Massie) alerted the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and within days teams of scientists were crawling around her backyard. They have since quarantined a 62-square mile area around Worcester where it is illegal to remove trees or firewood.

The beetles in Massie's backyard highlight the growing danger posed by the relentless spread of non-native beetles unintentionally transported here in the last two decades...

While of course the last two decades are looking to be pretty grim, this problem has been around for over a hundred years in the US and Canada. Things like White pine blister rust, Dutch elm disease, and more are now in the back of people's minds, but they are threats we cannot forget about.


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