Don't Destroy the Things You Love

Is Monday too soon to talk about the weekend? How about your upcoming vacation?

If you're going camping, or doing anything else that that calls for building a campfire, I've got a request:

   Don't bring firewood from home.

Doing so puts some of the very things you love--trees and forests--at risk by potentially exposing them to deadly invasive species like the emerald ash borer or the Asian longhorned beetle.

Instead, get your firewood close to your destination to prevent those tree-killers from hitching a ride to a new source of food.

Believe me, the money saved is not worth the potential devestation to the trees themselves or to the plants and creatures that thrive in forest habitats.

Even if you're not the camping type, please spread the word to those who are.

And everyone, educate yourselves about these critters.

Visit the National Invasive Species Information Center, the U.S. Forest Service or the Don't Move Firewood Web sites.

Or jump right in to find out what's happening in your state.

Of course, if you prefer your lessons with a dose of humor, pop some popcorn and watch a few videos starring a certain ugly bug.

Just remember, the real emerald ash borers aren't so easy to spot or so benign. They're smaller than Lincoln on a U.S. penny, and they really pack a whallop.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Invasive Species on July 21, 2008 EST | Permalink

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Lively discussions and different opinions are encouraged within the bounds of respectful civil discourse. Questionable language, personal attacks, off-topic comments, and gratuitous links will either be edited or deleted. Comments are moderated and will not appear on InfoFarm until they have been approved.

Greetings there. I just joined the site and it seems fascinating.

Submitted by: annesky on July 23, 2008 07:00 AM

Sour Oranges or Public Good?

What would you do if someone came into your yard univited and cut down one of your trees? What if that someone was the state and the tree one you've enjoyed the fruits of for many years?

Over the last decade or so, these questions have moved beyond the hypothetical for many Floridians.

In an effort to eradicate citrus canker, state agricultural crews destroyed infected trees, along with any additional citrus trees within 1,900 feet. Whether in orange groves or somebody's backyard, the trees were coming down -- over 16.5 million total (PDF |112 KB).

As the Washington Post reports today, some folks weren't too happy with that, leading to five separate class-action law suits. The key issue: whether the compensation received -- a $100 WalMart gift card for the first tree, $55 cash for the remaider -- was sufficient for trees that fed a family for years.

I can understand the reaction. I have a friend, a true native Floridian, whose ancestors first settled there in the 1860s, who says she never bought citrus until she came north for graduate school. She got her fruit from the trees in her backyard, or her neighbors' yards, knowing whom to visit for Florida lemons, calamondin oranges or sweet tangerines. Her family still gets fruit that way, a simple, steady, seasonal presence.

Those backyard trees, it seems, are central to many Floridians' identity. They're something that makes Florida Florida.

Of course, the same can be said of the citrus industry.

Which brings us back around to the citrus canker eradication program.

Cutting down infected and exposed trees was meant to halt the spread of this highly contagious disease and spare greater losses to Florida's #1 crop. Unfortunately, it didn't work. During the intense hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, the resulting wind and rain created the perfect means for spreading the bacteria beyond manageable levels.

Things got so bad that in January 2006 the USDA decided citrus canker could no longer be eliminated without inflicting permanent damage to the citrus industry. They'd have to cut down so many trees to eradicate the disease that the growers simply couldn't recover.

Enter the Citrus Health Response Program, a collaborative effort to scientifically control canker's spread and to safeguard the citrus industry. Though citrus canker is harmless to humans, Florida citrus is now under quarantine (PDF | 66 KB). No citrus may leave the state without receiving a limited permit, and no Florida citrus may be shipped to any other citrus-producing U.S. state or territory.

That means all you folks in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Texas will need to fill your holiday baskets with oranges grown elsewhere. And for the foreseeable future, please tell your Aunt Judy in Bartow not to send any grapefruits from the tree in her yard -- unless she wants to get her fruit treated, packed and inspected at an approved packinghouse.

So, the tree cutting is over. The lawsuits go on, however, wrestling with the issue of compensation, but also with the questions I opened with, questions that seek to examine the line between private property and public good, between individual rights and state powers.

I don't begin to know where to draw that line, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. No law degree required.

Finally, for more on citrus canker, check out the books and articles here at the Library. With eradication unlikely, we need to know all we can about this contagious, costly disease.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Invasive Species and Plants and Crops on December 10, 2007 EST | Permalink

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Lively discussions and different opinions are encouraged within the bounds of respectful civil discourse. Questionable language, personal attacks, off-topic comments, and gratuitous links will either be edited or deleted. Comments are moderated and will not appear on InfoFarm until they have been approved.

We can't grow citrus in New York but, I think that if people loose their property they should be compansated for that loss even though it may be for the common good. The other comment I would like to interject is that I think the citrus people should share more of those sweet, juicy lemons that grow in some of the back yards instead of sending all of those tart ones. I never knew how pleasant it was to eat a fully ripe lemon.

Submitted by: James Hilderbrant on December 14, 2007 11:22 PM

Submitted by: Amanda Slykerman on April 1, 2008 02:52 PM

Submitted by: Tracy on April 28, 2008 03:06 PM

Submitted by: Mary Beth McSwain on December 31, 2008 12:08 PM

Help Stop the Emerald Ash Borer

It looks a bit like an ordinary beetle that has had an unfortunate encounter with some green glitter, but in truth, the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) is not so entertaining.

This wood-boring bugger, first detected in the Detroit area in 2002, has had a significant and devestating effect on ash trees in Michigan. It has also spread to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ontario, Canada, killing an estimated 25 million ash trees along the way.

No one knows for sure how this native of east Asia made its way to middle America, but experts believe it hopped a ride in some ship's cargo hold via infected wood pallets or crates, possibly 10 or 15 years before being discovered.

The larvae inflict their damage by tunneling under the bark of the tree and then feeding on the phloem tissue, effectively stopping the flow of nutrients from the roots to the top of the tree. At first, this damage just thins the canopy, but eventually, branches die, followed by the tree itself, usually within two to four years.

With ash one of the primary commercial hardwoods in the United States and a very popular landscape tree, this infestation, if left unchecked, could cost billions.

Infestations spread fairly slowly -- less than half a mile each year -- but let's not forget the human element.

Just as we played a part in bringing this insect to our shores, we're helping it migrate across the country, either in firewood or in commercial nursery shipments. To help control the spread, the federal government has quarantined many of the affected areas. The quaratine restricts the movement of all ash tree products (nursery stock, lumber, logs, wood chips, etc.) and any and all hardwood firewood into or out of the targeted areas.

So, do your part. If you live in or near the states impacted by the emerald ash borer, know your enemy.

• Learn what the insect looks like and how to recognize an infestation, and use that knowledge to inspect your trees.
• Don't move firewood, any firewood, into or out of the quarantined zones.
• And ask questions about where any nursery stock is coming from.

Want to know more? Get the full story from the folks over at the National Invasive Species Information Center. They've collected an array of resources on the emerald ash borer that'll make you a neighborhood expert in no time.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Invasive Species on November 29, 2007 EST | Permalink

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Lively discussions and different opinions are encouraged within the bounds of respectful civil discourse. Questionable language, personal attacks, off-topic comments, and gratuitous links will either be edited or deleted. Comments are moderated and will not appear on InfoFarm until they have been approved.

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