USDA tries to stop spread of Asian longhorned beetle on Long Island
News 12 saw climbers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture click into their safety belts, fastening their helmets, attaching their ropes and hoisting themselves up the trunk of a maple tree to look for the insects.
Aug 14, 2024, 6:02 PM
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August is Tree Check month, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is on Long Island working to stop the spread of an invasive insect - the Asian longhorned beetle
News 12 saw climbers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture click into their safety belts, fastening their helmets, attaching their ropes and hoisting themselves up the trunk of a maple tree to look for the insects.
Over 7,000 trees on Long Island have been infested since the beetle was first detected in New York in 1996, according to the USDA.
The experts are searching for egg sites, branches or limbs falling, a sawdust-like material and holes that the pests leave behind.
These insects have been eliminated from areas due to these types of efforts. In 2011, they were eradicated from Islip.
