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By Earl Swift
One day not long ago, workers in Detroit opened a shipment of goods from the Far East and, in the process, unleashed a monster.No one can say who the workers were, what they unloaded or what year the event occurred, beyond that it was probably in the 1990s. But it seems that stowed away inside the wooden pallets or crates that protected the cargo were the larvae of a half-inch-long, iridescent beetle so foreign to the West that it had no English name.It has one now. By 2002, the emerald ash borer had multiplied from a few grubs into an army. It had killed millions of ash trees in southeastern Michigan, infested legions more and jumped into neighboring states.Up to 15 million trees may now be dead or doomed. So vast is the insects’ spread that officials fear that ash—valued in furniture, flooring and baseball bats, as well as for its shade —might go the way of the tree it has often been planted to replace: the American elm. Another foreign invader, Dutch elm disease, all but erased that tree in the mid-20th century. Welcome to the downside of global trade. Along with cheap goods from China, linens from Europe and seafood from South America, a host of unwanted plants, animals, insects and microbes have been penetrating our borders. Some, like the ash borer, stow away in packing materials. Others hitchhike in ballast water, on boots or aboard boats and aircraft.Invasive species are nothing new. In 1855, a steamship out of the West Indies docked at Norfolk, Va. When the mosquitoes in its cisterns began to bite and yellow fever broke out, the city quickly emptied; a third of the remaining population died. The gypsy moth arrived in 1869, imported by a French scientist who hoped to crossbreed the insect with silkworms. Instead, America got a pest that denudes millions of trees a year. Today, 7000 invasive species are already here, outcompeting or eating their native cousins, killing crops and forests, upsetting nature’s delicate balance. They’re blamed for four in 10 endangered-species listings, and their economic toll is staggering: $137 billion a year, estimates one study. Little wonder that the General Accounting Office has labeled invasive species “one of the most serious yet least-appreciated environmental threats of the 21st century.”“The impact is going to go up dramatically,” says Vic Mastro, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pest Survey Detection and Exclusion Laboratory. “We’re going to lose species. Our environment won’t be as rich. I don’t know whether that matters to people now. But I think it’ll really start to matter when it affects the food supply.”Of the 50,000 organisms imported to our shores, most are beneficial or benign. Indeed, considering that they include corn, wheat, rice, cattle and poultry, it’s hard to imagine life without them. But roughly one in seven of the newcomers isn’t so nice. The northern snakehead, an Asian fish that devours nearly everything in its path, is trolling the waters of the Potomac River. It can leave the water for hours, boosting its ability to spread. A microscopic water mold has cursed Western forests with virulent Sudden Oak Death. The nutria, a giant South American rodent, is chewing through the nation’s fragile coastal swamps. Asian tiger mosquitoes have spread disease since landing in Houston in the mid-1980s in shipments of used tires. “We also have the human pathogens and parasites,” notes David Pimentel of Cornell University, one of the experts studying the influx. “West Nile [virus] is the latest. So this isn’t just about native animals and plants. There has been a direct impact on the human system.”That impact is under close watch by the government. The National Invasive Species Council, created by President Clinton in 1999, rides herd on efforts to identify and plug chinks in America’s defenses and to combat those creatures that slip through. The soldiering falls to a network of federal, state and university experts—foresters, pathologists, entomologists and wildlife officials—backed by port inspectors, farmers, nurserymen and vigilant gardeners.“We’ve had precedents that have been disastrous,” admits Rob Mangold of the Forest Service. “Then again, we’ve managed to keep the gypsy moth out of the West Coast for 30 years. We’ve had that success because we’ve been alert to the problem, we’ve expected it, and when we’ve found it, we’ve immediately jumped on it.” Unfortunately, no one expected the emerald ash borer. The death of Detroit’s ash trees was ascribed to disease for years before the first beetle was plucked from a tree in June 2002. By that time, the marauder had dug in.Officials have tried to contain the outbreak by cutting down 300,000 trees in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio—leaving some Detroit neighborhoods completely without shade. Twenty counties around southeastern Michigan are quarantined, with no ash allowed out before meeting official guidelines. The infestation now covers more than 14,000 square miles, but the USDA remains committed to eventually wiping out the beetle.It won’t be cheap or easy, but if it isn’t reined in, the borer could kill off a tree that is found across the United States and that numbers 700 million in Michigan alone.“You talk about all the different ash species and losing those species in a short amount of time—well, economically, it would be terrible,” says Deborah McCullough, a professor of forest entomology at Michigan State. “Ecologically, we don’t even know what would happen.”
What You Can Do
* Don’t transport firewood. If you take firewood with you when camping, you don’t know what you’re taking with it, explains entomologist Deborah McCullough. Use the wood near your campsite.
* Clean your vehicle, mountain bike, tent and hiking boots immediately after each use. Scrub the hull and decks of your boat free of dirt, plants and organic fragments. Same goes for surfboards, kayaks, canoes and other watercraft.
* Never dump the contents of an aquarium—water, plants or pets—into wetlands, waterways or storm drains. Use the toilet or sink, or a spot in the yard far from open water.
* Don’t dump unused bait into the water. “Some baits are invasive species,” says Cornell University’s David Pimentel. Even crayfish, introduced through their use as bait, have been a problem.
* Empty stray water from your canoe, dive gear and other outdoor equipment before heading for home.
* Wash and brush dogs after trips to the water or woods.
* Plant a variety of trees and shrubs in your yard. ”The more diversity you have, the less likely you are to sustain a devastating loss,” says McCullough. Don’t swap plants via the Web or buy them overseas.
* Keep your eyes open. If you notice a plant or animal that seems out of place, report it to your local agricultural extension office.
One day not long ago, workers in Detroit opened a shipment of goods from the Far East and, in the process, unleashed a monster.No one can say who the workers were, what they unloaded or what year the event occurred, beyond that it was probably in the 1990s. But it seems that stowed away inside the wooden pallets or crates that protected the cargo were the larvae of a half-inch-long, iridescent beetle so foreign to the West that it had no English name.It has one now. By 2002, the emerald ash borer had multiplied from a few grubs into an army. It had killed millions of ash trees in southeastern Michigan, infested legions more and jumped into neighboring states.Up to 15 million trees may now be dead or doomed. So vast is the insects’ spread that officials fear that ash—valued in furniture, flooring and baseball bats, as well as for its shade —might go the way of the tree it has often been planted to replace: the American elm. Another foreign invader, Dutch elm disease, all but erased that tree in the mid-20th century. Welcome to the downside of global trade. Along with cheap goods from China, linens from Europe and seafood from South America, a host of unwanted plants, animals, insects and microbes have been penetrating our borders. Some, like the ash borer, stow away in packing materials. Others hitchhike in ballast water, on boots or aboard boats and aircraft.Invasive species are nothing new. In 1855, a steamship out of the West Indies docked at Norfolk, Va. When the mosquitoes in its cisterns began to bite and yellow fever broke out, the city quickly emptied; a third of the remaining population died. The gypsy moth arrived in 1869, imported by a French scientist who hoped to crossbreed the insect with silkworms. Instead, America got a pest that denudes millions of trees a year. Today, 7000 invasive species are already here, outcompeting or eating their native cousins, killing crops and forests, upsetting nature’s delicate balance. They’re blamed for four in 10 endangered-species listings, and their economic toll is staggering: $137 billion a year, estimates one study. Little wonder that the General Accounting Office has labeled invasive species “one of the most serious yet least-appreciated environmental threats of the 21st century.”“The impact is going to go up dramatically,” says Vic Mastro, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pest Survey Detection and Exclusion Laboratory. “We’re going to lose species. Our environment won’t be as rich. I don’t know whether that matters to people now. But I think it’ll really start to matter when it affects the food supply.”Of the 50,000 organisms imported to our shores, most are beneficial or benign. Indeed, considering that they include corn, wheat, rice, cattle and poultry, it’s hard to imagine life without them. But roughly one in seven of the newcomers isn’t so nice. The northern snakehead, an Asian fish that devours nearly everything in its path, is trolling the waters of the Potomac River. It can leave the water for hours, boosting its ability to spread. A microscopic water mold has cursed Western forests with virulent Sudden Oak Death. The nutria, a giant South American rodent, is chewing through the nation’s fragile coastal swamps. Asian tiger mosquitoes have spread disease since landing in Houston in the mid-1980s in shipments of used tires. “We also have the human pathogens and parasites,” notes David Pimentel of Cornell University, one of the experts studying the influx. “West Nile [virus] is the latest. So this isn’t just about native animals and plants. There has been a direct impact on the human system.”That impact is under close watch by the government. The National Invasive Species Council, created by President Clinton in 1999, rides herd on efforts to identify and plug chinks in America’s defenses and to combat those creatures that slip through. The soldiering falls to a network of federal, state and university experts—foresters, pathologists, entomologists and wildlife officials—backed by port inspectors, farmers, nurserymen and vigilant gardeners.“We’ve had precedents that have been disastrous,” admits Rob Mangold of the Forest Service. “Then again, we’ve managed to keep the gypsy moth out of the West Coast for 30 years. We’ve had that success because we’ve been alert to the problem, we’ve expected it, and when we’ve found it, we’ve immediately jumped on it.” Unfortunately, no one expected the emerald ash borer. The death of Detroit’s ash trees was ascribed to disease for years before the first beetle was plucked from a tree in June 2002. By that time, the marauder had dug in.Officials have tried to contain the outbreak by cutting down 300,000 trees in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio—leaving some Detroit neighborhoods completely without shade. Twenty counties around southeastern Michigan are quarantined, with no ash allowed out before meeting official guidelines. The infestation now covers more than 14,000 square miles, but the USDA remains committed to eventually wiping out the beetle.It won’t be cheap or easy, but if it isn’t reined in, the borer could kill off a tree that is found across the United States and that numbers 700 million in Michigan alone.“You talk about all the different ash species and losing those species in a short amount of time—well, economically, it would be terrible,” says Deborah McCullough, a professor of forest entomology at Michigan State. “Ecologically, we don’t even know what would happen.”
What You Can Do
* Don’t transport firewood. If you take firewood with you when camping, you don’t know what you’re taking with it, explains entomologist Deborah McCullough. Use the wood near your campsite.
* Clean your vehicle, mountain bike, tent and hiking boots immediately after each use. Scrub the hull and decks of your boat free of dirt, plants and organic fragments. Same goes for surfboards, kayaks, canoes and other watercraft.
* Never dump the contents of an aquarium—water, plants or pets—into wetlands, waterways or storm drains. Use the toilet or sink, or a spot in the yard far from open water.
* Don’t dump unused bait into the water. “Some baits are invasive species,” says Cornell University’s David Pimentel. Even crayfish, introduced through their use as bait, have been a problem.
* Empty stray water from your canoe, dive gear and other outdoor equipment before heading for home.
* Wash and brush dogs after trips to the water or woods.
* Plant a variety of trees and shrubs in your yard. ”The more diversity you have, the less likely you are to sustain a devastating loss,” says McCullough. Don’t swap plants via the Web or buy them overseas.
* Keep your eyes open. If you notice a plant or animal that seems out of place, report it to your local agricultural extension office.
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