The greatest threat to the sustainability of this country’s forests and probably the number one challenge for land managers is not forest fires, as may be perceived by the public, but insect infestations and the spread of disease. Insects and disease do not get the media coverage that fires do, but the National Report on…
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has been receiving a lot of press due to its potential to wreak environmental and economic havoc in this country and around the world. This is the phenomenon that has resulted in dramatic reduction of honeybees worldwide threatening agriculture and ecosystems to be left without pollination. Honeybees pollinate approximately one-third of…
The USDA Forest Service manages a division tasked with monitoring forest health via aerial survey. The Forest Health Protection (FHP) staff is responsible for pest detection, reporting and forest management on federal, state and private lands. The FHP aviation program surveys forested land for insects and pests, performs aerial photography and conducts aerial applications, when…
Disappointing Decline Each year monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, travel 3,000 miles migrating to and from overwintering sites in Mexico. It is known to be one of the most spectacular migration events on earth, but it appears to be in decline. There are many factors affecting monarch populations including; habitat loss, drought conditions, misuse of pesticides, reduced availability…
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has recently launched a new program to help identify and therefore possibly control the Asian longhorn beetle (ALB) infestation in the state. This effort is aimed at getting citizens more heavily involved with identifying and reporting the presence of the invasive pest, specifically those citizens with pools…
Current Conditions July was generally moist and warm for the majority of the region, although some areas remain in drought conditions and there were some cool night-time lows. The average rainfall amount across the region was approximately 2.00 inches. Most of the region experienced daytime highs in the 80s, though some areas enjoyed cool temperatures…
Problematic Pests The Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, a member of the scarab beetle family, is the adult stage of the white grubs found in your lawn. They were first introduced to the United States via New Jersey from Japan in 1916, where they were not considered a pest. In some parts of the country there…
A recently published US Forest Service study revealed that the massively destructive Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) is four times more likely to develop to adulthood when feeding on red maples (Acer rubrum) as compared to other susceptible species. The study, published in the journal “Insects”, showed that ALB attacked red maples at very high rates,…
A study was recently undertaken in Massachusetts, conducted by researchers from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of New Hampshire to determine the effects winter moth caterpillar populations are having on subsequent growth in oak trees. This recently published study revealed that damage from the winter moth caterpillar is severely affecting the…
It is that time of year in the midwest when mayflies emerge en masse from the depths of the Mississippi River, traveling in swarms that have been known to cause car wrecks, coat roads and leave a slimy mess in their wake. The swarms are so large that they can be seen on weather radar…
