Legions of tiny, shiny green monsters have invaded Northeastern Pennsylvania, leaving forests of dead and dying trees in their wake.
The emerald ash borer, a small metallic green beetle native to Asia and Russia, was first found in the U.S. in June 2002, in Michigan. The theory is it hitched a ride in a packing crate.
Now it has spread to 22 states, including 51 counties in Pennsylvania. There's no known cure for a tree after it has been infested.
"It's an extremely destructive pest. You're looking at the loss of a genus of trees," said Sven-Erik Spichiger, entomology program manager for the state Department of Agriculture. "Obviously when it gets to an area you're looking at 99 percent plus mortality of all ash tree species."
Pennsylvania's native ash is a straight-grained hardwood harvested for lumber, furniture, baseball bats - including the famous Louisville Slugger - hockey sticks, tool handles and other uses. The ash borer has "absolutely" affected the ash wood industry, through quarantines, Spichiger said. There are some countries that won't take ash from Pennsylvania unless it's treated in certain ways, he said.
Ash is also used as firewood. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is urging campers not to move firewood, but instead to "burn it where you buy it" to help stop the spread of the ash borer. The insect can live in cut ash wood for up to two years, Spichiger said.
The emerald ash borer was first found in Pennsylvania in June 2007, in Cranberry Township, Butler County, according to records from the Penn State College of Agricultural Science's entomology department.
"We've been watching for it for several years," said Jon Brown, owner of Brown Hill Tree Co. outside Meshoppen and a board-certified master arborist through the National Society of Arboriculture. "We're trying to make people aware that it's here, and what it is."
The first sighting of the pest in Northeastern Pennsylvania was in southern Wyoming County in early July 2011. Later that month, an adult beetle was found in Northeastern Sullivan County, in one of the purple triangular sticky traps hung from trees for the purpose of catching and identifying them.
A year later, the emerald ash borer was found in Luzerne County for the first time: in August 2013, an employee of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources collected one from a purple sticky trap in the lower portion of Ricketts Glen State Park in Fairmount Township.
As of 2014, Lackawanna County has not had any sightings of the ash borer, according to data from the state Department of Agriculture.
However, "It may very well be there. It could just be nobody's turned in an official sample yet," Spichiger said.
Brown said an ash borer was found in Harveys Lake about three years ago, caught in a sticky trap.
"In my travels, I actually found it right near the Forkston ball field," as well as in Mehoopany and Laceyville, Brown said.
Certain areas have a lot of damage; it seems to be in pockets so far, Brown said.
"It's going to spread pretty rapidly. I think we're going to hear more and more about it in the next year or two, because there's definitely a stronghold," he said.
Some species of woodpeckers eat ash borers, and will start to peel the outer layer of bark off the ash trees. If you see severe woodpecker damage on an ash tree, it's a sign the ash borers are present, Spichiger said.
But the birds don't eat enough to stop the ash borer or get it under control.
"There's not anything natural that's keeping up with it so far, or they wouldn't be having the problems in other areas," Brown noted.
The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Bureau of Forestry is releasing parasitic stingless wasps, which are a predator of the ash borers, Spichiger said. They can help control the pest, but it will be over a long period of time, he said.
Spichiger recommends property owners take stock of what kind of trees are on their land and make plans to manage them. For example, if you have a large ash tree hanging over the garage, think, "what would I do if this tree dies?" he said.
Brown's company does a lot of residential tree care, including preventative treatment to inoculate trees against the emerald ash borer. Three years ago, when the ash borer first started to spread to the area, Brown said he got about 75 calls a year about ash trees. Now he says he gets more than 300.
There are two different procedures for treating the ash trees, Brown said. One involves spraying insecticide on the lower five feet of the tree to be taken in systemically. The other is to drill holes in the base of the tree and inject a similar type of insecticide under pressure.
"It's best if it's in the tree before it gets infested," Brown said.
The treatment has to be done regularly for a long time, he said. It isn't realistic or cost-effective to treat every tree in the forest, but, Brown said, "If you have trees around the house that are important to you, you should have them treated."
The concern is that the emerald ash borer will do to the ash tree what an imported Asiatic fungus, the chestnut blight, did to the American chestnut tree: Once an abundant species throughout Pennsylvania, it is now virtually wiped out.
But Brown is not optimistic.
"I strongly believe that if left unchecked, there aren't going to be any ash trees left in a couple of years," he said.
For information on the emerald ash borer, visit www.emeraldashborer.info or stopthebeetle.info.
The state Department of Agriculture is also on the lookout for another invasive species, the Asian longhorned beetle, which is black with white spots and long antennae; it affects maple trees.
Sightings of these or any other potentially invasive insects should be reported to the department at 1-866-253-7189 or email@example.com.