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Treasured Trees Under Pest Attacks

America’s trees are falling prey to the three Ts: trade, travel and tourism.

Foreign insects that hitch rides in cargo crates, on tourists’ hiking boots and in firewood are eating their way through America’s native forests of ash, aspen, white pine and even the wiliwili trees in Hawaii.

It’s not the first time native pests have devastated American forests and suburban trees. Seventy-five years ago Dutch elm disease wiped out street-side shade trees across the country. More recently, the Asian long-horned beetle, the ash borer and “sudden oak death” fungus have been wreaking havoc.

A boom in international commerce brought a 250 percent increase in imported plants over the past decade. The Nature Conservancy estimates more than 700 plants are now imported each year, each with the potential to bring with unwanted pests.

Federal officials are responding by tightening rules for cargo containers and imported live plants, enforcing quarantines and trying to raise public awareness to educate people about what they can do to help contain the problem. For more information on what you can do, visit www.stopthebeetle.info.

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org