Asian longhorned beetle, found in Massachusetts, not spotted here yet.

By Max Handelman, for the Community News Service

TOWNS STATEWIDE — Across six sites in Vermont’s forests, Savannah Ferreira and her team of trappers are on the lookout for six-legged invaders. If the rogues establish a stronghold here, they will pillage tree habitats and hold sugar producers hostage.

The trappers cloak lures in forest camouflage to spring on their would-be enemy: the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB). Should the trappers prevail, the pest won’t establish a beachhead here. Fail, and the results would be ruinous.

“The Asian longhorned beetle would be a huge concern if it ever got to Vermont,” Ferreira said. “Our northern hardwood forests are just a ton of food resources for them, and there’s no known kind of treatment for Asian longhorned beetles.”

Ecologists must cut down or burn every tree at an ALB infestation site to quarantine further spread. In Worcester, MA, one of the closest infestations to Vermont, 30,000 trees have been removed due to ALB reports since 2008. 

The ALB hasn’t been found in our state and the trappers intend to keep it that way.

“We’ve been trapping for Asian longhorned beetle for at least seven years,” Ferreira said. “We’re looking for sites that have a lot of overnight camping because Asian longhorned beetle can get transported long distances from infested firewood. We also look for areas that are recycling wood or shipping containers of wood like pallets.”

Our northern hardwood trees are dominated by sugar maples. Unlike other insects that target one genera like the invasive emerald ash borer or native sugar maple borer, the ALB doesn’t discriminate. They infest 12 genera of trees with maple species being among their favorites.

Ginger Nickerson, a Forest Pest Education Coordinator, said that ecologists must harvest trees within a 10-mile radius of an infestation site to ensure all traces of ALB are eradicated. 

“The beetle could impact a huge number of different trees in our yards, in our forests and could have a really big impact on the sugar industry,” Nickerson said. “We stand to lose a lot of our trees and it would cost us a lot of money to do that.” 

Nickerson said that the ALB was present in Massachusetts for at least 15 years before it was reported by a Worcester grandmother. Vermont officials are striving to avert a similar crisis by taking a boots-on-the-ground approach. 

To do so, trappers are deploying Lindgren funnel traps. A series of black funnels are stacked on top of each other and can be painted to look like tree bark. The funnels are then scented with ethanol to mimic trees’ stress response. An ALB would be lured to that scent, fall through the funnel and drown in the antifreeze mixture at the bottom.

Normally, an ALB female will chew its way just beneath the bark of a tree to lay an egg. The larva hatches and tunnels into the heartwood of the tree — choking off the flow of water and nutrients to sustain themselves. 

Once grown, the adult beetle gnaws its way out of the tree, boring a hole slightly smaller than a dime that you can “stick a pencil straight through,” Ferreira said. The hole is much larger and stands out against the typical “J” shaped boring symptoms of native-borer species.

Two local groups are helping the trappers prevent the spread of ALB, too. The Forest Pest First Detectors (FPFD) program educates the public on recognizing symptoms of an ALB infestation and is sponsored by the Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Program.

Another organization, Vermont Invasives, curates an Invader Gallery that distinguishes ALB from lookalikes. The ALB is often mistaken for the white-spotted sawyer and northeastern pine sawyer, both native to Vermont. The gallery highlights distinct traits like the ALB’s white ring bandings on its antennae — something that neither species possess.

Ferreira said that anyone who thinks they’ve spotted an ALB or symptoms of an infestation should report it to Vermont Invasives, regardless of how confident they are.

“If you can get a photo of it and send in a report, we can make those identifications,” she said. “It’s never a waste of time to get a White-spotted Sawyer report. Some people feel like they’re wasting our time or they don’t want to send it because they’re not sure, but we’d much rather see it than miss an early detection report.” 

Despite the threat of an ALB infestation, extermination and control measures in other New England sites are yielding positive results. Massachusetts forest specialists have made significant progress in exterminating ALB, limiting the insect to a 98-mile control zone in Worcester County. 

In Vermont, educators like Nickerson continue to host webinars and create service announcements encouraging the public to remain vigilant.

“This is something that can have a big impact on our communities, and by becoming aware of these insects, everybody can play a role in keeping their eyes out and reporting anything suspicious,” Nickerson said.

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont internship