New Bill Adds Funding to Fight Asian Long-Horned Beetle

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to increase funds allocated to fight the Asian long-horned beetle.
New Bill Adds Funding to Fight Asian Long-Horned Beetle
THE CULPRIT: Representative Weiner explains the devastating effects of the Asian Long-horned beetle. (Vicky Zheng/The Epoch Times)
7/15/2009
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/weinwer.jpg" alt="THE CULPRIT: Representative Weiner explains the devastating effects of the Asian Long-horned beetle. (Vicky Zheng/The Epoch Times)" title="THE CULPRIT: Representative Weiner explains the devastating effects of the Asian Long-horned beetle. (Vicky Zheng/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1827346"/></a>
THE CULPRIT: Representative Weiner explains the devastating effects of the Asian Long-horned beetle. (Vicky Zheng/The Epoch Times)
NEW YORK—U.S. House of Representatives has passed an agriculture appropriations bill to increase funds allocated to fight the Asian long-horned beetle to approximately $23 million for New York City, U.S. Representative Anthony D. Weiner (D-Brooklyn and Queens) reported in a press conference on Sunday.

The Asian long-horned beetle was discovered in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 1996, according to a press release from Representative Weiner. Since then, the pest has infested and destroyed over 4,300 trees, and has spread to Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, Long Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Illinois.

Since 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has spent more than $268 million to combat the insect, also known by its acronym ALB, according to the press release.

“The Asian long-horned beetle most likely arrived in a packing crate from China” Weiner said.

City of New York Parks and Recreation Senior Deputy Commissioner Liam Kavanagh explained that since there is a natural predator of the beetles in China, the insect has not wreaked much havoc there.

However, in New York, the ALB, “Lays eggs in, bores into, feeds on, and ultimately kills otherwise healthy hardwood trees,” stated the press release. Standing next to a magnified photo of the spotted black beetle, Representative Weiner showed two halves of a log damaged by the beetles.

The attack on the ALB would not adversely affect the ecological environment because the insect is an intruder in the area, said Representative Weiner. Birds are also negatively impacted since they create homes and habitats in trees, half of which are threatened if the flying pest is left alone.

The only way to prevent the ALB from spreading to other trees is to fell infected trees. However, Weiner plans to employ newly introduced pheromone-based traps developed by SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry that will reduce the number of trees being cut down to prevent further infection.