Invasive emerald ash borer creeping into Iowa

DES MOINES - A sticky, purple trap, of the type that are being hung from trees throughout northeastern Iowa this month, is the best hope state and federal officials have for saving Iowa's estimated 55 million ash trees.

The traps attract an invasive species called the emerald ash borer, a bug whose destructive capabilities on ash trees have been likened to what Dutch elm disease did to North American elm populations in the 20th century.

The bullet-shaped, metallic green beetle was first found in southeastern Michigan in 2002, said Sharon Lucik, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's emerald ash borer program.

Since then, it has spread throughout the Great Lakes region and beyond. Officials in 15 states have found borer larvae or adults in local ash trees, and traps are set in 48 states.

Last year, a trap on a small island in the Mississippi River in Allamakee County caught four larvae, marking the first time evidence of the borer has been found inside Iowa's borders.

Lucik said the pest will only spread from there. So far, the best efforts of scientists and environmentalists have been unable to stop the bug, only slow it down.

“Slowing it down gives people a chance to take action before it comes to an area instead of (taking action) while it is in area or after it's established,” said John Bedford, pest response program manager with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. “It also, hopefully, gives science a chance to catch up to what we need.”

The federal emerald ash borer program has a budget of $37 million this year. It supports surveying and trapping efforts in 48 states with special interest on the 15 states, including Iowa, where infestations have been found.

In 2010, the federal government contributed $228,977 to Iowa's emerald ash borer program. The budget for the 2011 program has not been finished, Lucik said, but the dollar amount will likely be about the same. That will cover putting up the 1,700 purple traps in the state at a cost of roughly $90 per trap.

Aside from trapping, surveying and the destruction of infested trees, the federal program includes a sizable outreach effort. That outreach includes placing billboards telling people to buy campfire wood locally.

“There's a natural spread and an artificial spread,” Lucik said. “The artificial spread is more difficult to predict because it's carried by people. In that sense, it's more worrisome because you have infestations where you wouldn't expect them otherwise.”

‘Nincompoops'

A U.S. Department of Agriculture study estimated the damage from the borer would cost $10.7 billon by 2019 if the spread reaches 25 states by then. That's based on the assumption that the bugs will infect 17 million landscaped ash trees in that 25-state area. A landscaped ash is one that is in an urban setting, such as ones that are part of streetscapes, on golf courses or in arboretums.

There are an estimated 3 million ash trees in Iowa's urban areas, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

“I can guarantee you that this state will see costs that will rival the flooding costs,” said state Sen. Dennis Black, D-Grinnell, who has been critical of the lack of money set aside by the state to address the emerald ash borer.

The cost comes from replacing dead trees. Aside from simple aesthetics, infected trees need to be replaced or taken down because they become more brittle over time. Brittle trees are more likely to lose their branches or fall over in rough weather, which becomes a health and safety issue as those tree parts strike people, property and power lines.

Black, a retired forester, said black, green and white ash were the “major trees planted in this state after Dutch elm disease” and the state will see another decimation if more attention isn't paid to stopping the bug.

“If you find two trees this year, next year it will be four, the following year it will be eight,” Black said. “It's exponential.”

Earlier this year, the Senate passed a budget with a $100,000 line item for forestry and health management to pay for state foresters to train municipal foresters in identification and mitigation methods. Black warned his colleagues that they weren't putting enough aside even as the budget passed.

The House, which is working on two-year budgets, passed a spending plan with nothing this year, but $300,000 in the following fiscal year to replace trees.

“The nincompoops in the House put that 100 grand to buying new trees to plant for the old ones that died,” Black said. “You don't buy trees to replace a species that hasn't died, that's the cart way, way before the horse.”

Still, with budget negotiations ongoing, it's unclear how much money the state will ultimately put aside to cover the borer infestation.

But even when an agreement is reached, it's unlikely that the combined state and federal efforts will stop the spread of the borer.

That will leave municipalities bearing the brunt of the cost of cleaning up after the pest crosses its borders.

Comments: (515) 422-9061; michael.wiser@lee.net

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