Bugging Your Trees, Part 2

Now for my opinion. My uneducated, unresearched, untested;trusted;verified opinion.

It doesn't matter.

What you do, what the government does, what the experts do. None of it matters.

Nature does what nature does.

Insects and other pests have been catching rides on driftwood or pine cones for millennia. The fact that more of them are migrating faster only means that we ourselves are going farther faster. Who are we to object to other species doing the same thing, just because we don't like it.


Seriously, look at the waves and ways these invaders are coming in and popping up. If it's not one thing, it's another. For some reason, Nature is devouring our hardwoods.

And look again at the locations of the problems. Here in the USA, the heaviest concentrations of invasive beetles and such are in the areas known loosely as the "Great Lakes Regions"

Doesn't that make anyone think "Hmmm?"

My opinion is that these insects have been sent from God, Mother Nature, Father Time, Mother Earth -- whatever -- to taste and test and winnow out the weakest of the hardwoods. The delicious of the deciduous.

Why would this happen?
Climate change, people. Climate change. The Great Lakes were carved by Great Glaciers, or so we've been told. Te glaciers contained the seeds and roots and things of the trees that grew once the ice retreated -- the Earth reseeding after receding.

But first, the trees that remain to be regrown must have survived. They must be the least tasty, the less weak, the best of the best. Surviving the Ice takes strength and stamina. What better way to show that than by surviving an infectious infestation?


Whether my speculation has any basis or not, the governments interference in what may well be nature's preparedness can still have disastrous results. As many areas of Massachusetts and Ohio and Illinois can show you, the government solution has mainly turned forests into swamps. Removing multiple varieties of trees for whatever reason has damaged the ecology of the ares, There are no tree leaves and branches to capture rainwater to hold snowfall above the ground. There are no root systems to hold the ground in place, and with each rain-shower or snow-melt, the dirt becomes mud, becomes mire, becomes a marsh.

Let nature take its course. Nature has been managing the ecosystems here for longer than we can imagine. Everything happens for a reason.
And the most spectacular ecological failures have been caused by our efforts to fix the unbroken, to make Nature to do our bidding.
As we ourselves are a part of creation -- same as the bugs, beetles, and bacteria -- we really aren't helping.
We may not be that much of a hindrance, in the long run.

Nature does as nature does.

But I would rather enjoy the trees while we can, before they go away naturally.

What's Bugging Your Trees?

Emerald Ash Borer?
Japanese longhair Beatle?
Black walnut Bud Borers?
Elm Eaters?


It seems that there is a new one every day, here in the USA.

Sadly, the informed treatment by the US Government agencies is that if you remove the trees, you remove the infestations.
Not just the trees that are actually infested -- you must also remove every tree that may be infested some day or some other day.

Now, I am no scientific observer or genius.
I am, in fact, very unscientific as an observer.

However, this treatment tactic is more than a little silly. A variation on "can't see the forest for the trees". You can't save the forests because there are too many trees in the way, or something like that. It can be likened to fighting fire with fire, I suppose. But fires and backfires both leave the survivors with nothing but Scorched Earth.
Is that really a solution?

The USDA has conceded a loss to the Emerald Ash Borer. They quit destroying the trees, and a drive down the roads reveals the death and destruction of the ash trees. Bare branches stretching skyward even as they droop, rot, and fall.
But those bare branches are reaching through the forests and banks of trees. Where the ash are failing, others are thriving -- or at least getting a little stronger; a little taller.

Two counties over, the government is stripping the land, creating erosion and mud flats instead of habitats and farmland, in an effort to stop the spread of the Asian Longhorned Beetle.
They has applied this Scorched Earth  treatment in Massachusetts and around Chicago as well.

They have destroyed hundreds of thousands of healthy uninfested trees to remove a few thousand sick ones.

And now there is a new scourge emerging, one that affects what deciduous trees are not vulnerable to the EAB or the ALB. This is the Black Walnut Borer -- and there's also some sort of fungus infection affecting these trees.

Will we have any forests left, once the government gets done 'saving' the trees?
What trees are they saving?
What trees will be left?

What will be left for you?

Tumbling Trees.

The latest reports are out on the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) eradication of the Asian longhorn beetle. The numbers are staggering, and those of you living in neighboring counties to those mentioned -- or neighboring states -- might want to take a long hard look at the numbers before you decide that it's not really anything you need to worry about.

New York, 1st detection in August 1996. They found 6,275 infested trees. They have removed 18,467 trees. That is roughly three times the amount that were 'sick'.

New Jersey. Since October 2002. 729 infested, 21,981 trees removed. This is 30 -- yes, 30 times the number of injured trees.

Massachusetts, August 2008. 22,264 infested, 31,925 removed.

Ohio June 2011. 9091 infested trees, 8809 removed.

The good people in Bethel, the most affected area in Ohio, are fighting to save their trees. They acknowledge the need for infested trees to be removed, but are objecting to the destruction of the healthy. For most tree owners, they would porefer to have the trees vaccinated.
Yes, that can be done.
It is even less expensive than tree cutters, and chippers, and mulchers, and cherry pickers and earth movers and fuel for machinery (checked the prices on the fuel lately? -- bet you have.)

I want you, wherever you are, to go out in your backyard, or to your closest, favorite public park.
Look around.
Pick a tree, any tree, since this is an exercise in imagination.
The tree you have selected is sick. It has a bug. This bug is not airborne (as they say about viruses). But the tree is sick.
Say "Good-bye, favorite tree."

Now look around and see the other trees.
See the three closest trees.
Say "good bye" to them.
They must be assassinated because their neighbor was sick.

But wait, the neighboring trees have neighbors too. Pick any number, 3 or 30 or any other number, of the neighboring trees' neighbors.
Say "good bye" to them, too. They are neighbors of the neighbors of the sick tree, so they, too, must die.

Now, look around your back yard, or your park.
Are there any trees left?
Is there any shade left in your yard?
Are there any windbreaks left around your house?
What will hold the soil in your yard when the snow melts or the rains pound down?


My friends, this can happen to you. Yes, you may live far away -- but with the likes of Superstorm Sandy, (and the USDA wasted no time laying down the law in New Jersey afterwards,) is anywhere far enough away? Yes, you may not have the specific species of bugs that are eating these species of trees.

But you DO have a government agency that says it can come in and remove and confiscate your personal property (trees) because they can.

Infested trees need to be removed. No one is arguing with that. And the government has every right to take those down at its expense for the public good.

But they are claiming the right to take down all the trees that might become bug-sick. Not just likely, but "maybe perhaps someday might."

If they are allowed to do that here, in the heart of Ohio, in the nation's scenic heart, why do you think they will stop when they get to your back yard? They will be able to point to New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Ohio as having established "THE" precedent.

Goodbye backyard.
Goodbye parks.
Goodbye trees.

Help the Bethel ALB group stop this trampling of property rights.
Before it becomes your rights that are lost.

http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=d9ab319101533a13ab1c45685&id=587ea78b12

Save Our (Healthy) Trees.

Monday July 2, 2012  is the last informational meeting about the Asian Longhorned Beetle and the Environmental Assessment.  If you still have questions this is where to go. The  when is Monday 6 pm to 9 pm, at the Grant Career Center in Bethel Ohio,

The Environmental Assessment is a collection of facts. If you haven't yet read it, you can do so here: http://www.bethelalb.com/ALB-OH-ClermontCounty-2012-EA.pdf

Environment is important to everything and everyone. You may feel, as some in Loveland do, that the way to get rid of the beetle is to devastate Tate Townships wooded areas -- which include East Fork State Park eventually.

Already, those who have had trees removed are feeling the effects. Higher energy bills, as the heating and cooling provided by trees has decreased. Flooding, small streams turned into full-bodied creeks, carrying away soil and sewage and litter. Once arable fields that lie in water when it rains, with no trees to soak up the excess. Septic tank fields with no drainage and no absorption, creating a risk of excess sewage rising.

No one is urging officials to stop prevention measures. The truth is, most of the afflicted would like to see the government sponsored agencies comply with their own standards instead of excusing noncompliance.  Very few people object to the removal of infested trees. They want to save the healthy ones, give them a vaccination against infection. The vaccination is less expensive than the removal, the hauling, and the grinding.

That may not be what you think will be best. That decision is up to you, but I urge you, especially if you live in or close to the infested areas, educate yourself. Look at the trees on your property and ask yourself "What if?" Learn what you can do, what they can do, what will happen if this, that, or the other is done.

If you have questions, attend the meeting. If you can't attend the meeting, contact a member of the ALB team: http://www.bethelalb.com/  They will give you what answers they have, or point you in the direction of clear factual sources.

Once you have thought it over and thought it through, speak up and speak out. Tell the USDA what you would want them to do with YOUR trees.

Because someday, in some way, it will be your trees.

Environmental Assessment: Asian Longhorn Beetle: Bethel Ohio

To anyone interested in this fight -- yes, that should be you, if  it isn't -- the Environmental assessment has been prepared, and the officals want to hear from you. They are seeking opinions from the public. Please read the report thoroughly -- it will take a while and multiple readings -- before deciding your stand. But please, do take a stand. Do make your voice heard. The report can be read here: http://www.bethelalb.com/ALB-OH-ClermontCounty-2012-EA.pdf

Now, they are not promising that they will act on what people tell them. They are a government organization which means essentially that they will infer everything and promise nothing. But they are asking for opinions. Let's give them that much.

This is important to everyone, although it is most important to the people of Bethel. It is their trees that are being eradicated. (Not the beetle.) It is their properties being destroyed, it is their countryside being laid bare for flooding and wind erosion. It is their small hometown being turned into a hot spot.

The numbers are hard to comprehend, but there are people gifted with the ability to put the concepts into words. Bill Skvarla, beetle activist, offers this example:  If the street tree in front of the Midway Theatre is the only tree in Bethel that has a beetle, every single healthy uninfested host tree in the entire Village will be destroyed according to USDA's EA-Alternative B.

Imagine that.
Imagine if your home town had to be denuded of all its tall shady trees because a tree in the town part of town had a problem. Would you like that? Would it seem reasonable to you to lose all the shade on your house because someone a half mile away had bug holes (and maybe-probably bugs) in one of their trees?

This is a problem for everyone, not just Bethel. If the government can do this to us, they can do it to others. Maybe the excuse won't be the Japanese long-haired beatles. Or green borers. But There will be something,
I promise you.

And you will have to suffer it, because allowing this without a fight sets a precedent. A precedent of government takeover of your private property. A government takeover of your community's landscape. A government takeover of your right to stand up and say "No!" to the chainsaws and bulldozers.

Read.
Research.
And speak out and speak up.



http://bugs.clermontcountyohio.gov/ALB.aspx;
http://www.agri.ohio.gov/TopNews/asianbeetle/;
http://clermont.osu.edu/news/asian-longhorned-beetle-found-in-ohio-osuextension-offers-information-hotline; the APHIS ALB plant pest page
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/asian_lhb/index.s
html.

Draw Deep, Reach High.

To me, there is nothing more beautiful than a tree. It doesn't matter the type, or the season, or the shade, shape or color. I love trees.
Even ugly trees have a beauty, a symmetry (or dis-symmetry) that catches the eye and takes the breath away.
Is there anything more striking to the eye than the deep luscious green of a Scotch Pine or Blue Spruce towering against the pale blue of a December sky?

Trees connect earth and sky, drawing from deep within and reaching for the unreachable. They maintain beauty and grace as they do so, even in unlikely ways from unlikely places. When bare in winter, their bare bones etch  lines on the horizon -- pen-and-ink drawings of starkness.  Fully gowned in summer greens, these bones peek through, offering glimpses of grace and strength. Spring pastels greet the return of the sun, and the colors are muted for eyes no longer accustomed to bright colors. Autumn brings a bright farewell from the deciduous, a blast of color that will fade in our memories -- nothing could really have been that brilliant, could it? -- until spring tiptoes the colors of life back into our lives.

Our trees are under attack.
Now, under Mother Nature's rules, everything is always under attack from something else. It's the way of growing stronger, living longer. What doesn't kill, makes stronger, no matter the species.

The attacks I speak of are not those of Mother Nature, although She started it. She sent an explosion, an excursion, an invasion of tree-eating bugs. We responded, trying to eradicate the bugs, not with insecticides, not with vaccines or medicines. We have responded to this threat to our trees by destroying the trees.

Can you imagine if this logic was applied to people? (It has been, in the past. Now called racism, and no one wants to admit their part in it.) Can you think of any more diseased species than Humans? Can you think of any more destructive force than Humans?  Has any species trampled more ground, destroyed more places, ruined more lives than Humans?

It may be that Mother Nature has had enough of us. She may be getting ready to destroy our habitats, to tear down our homes, to remove the blight of our being from the face of her earth.  Who can blame her?

And the trees will stand tall against the landscape. Their roots will draw deep from the Earth herself. Their arms will lift to the sky, seeking sun and light and fresh air.

 Between earth and sky, the trees will remain.

If we let them.

Mother Nature on a Rampage

Usually I try to vary the topics of my entries, but this week has been a little two sided. (I would say one-sided, but there are two subjects going on.) Weather and trees. Towns and tornadoes.

The trees I'll have to put on the back burner for now -- or maybe not. Mother Nature decided to give a head start on some of the tree removals. Just ripped and twisted and tossed the trees around a bit. Maybe she's upset with the puny men who are trying to undo her work, or who think they can do her job better than she does.

The puny men (USDA) have requested that anyone with damaged trees inspect them for the beetle. Don't know why they can't do this part of their job themselves, now that Mother has made it easier for them.

And residents and workers are wondering if they are supposed to suspend operations and wait for these people to approve their labors.

Will people have to remain homeless  and powerless -- certainly in more than one sense of the word -- while the government contractors twiddle their fingers waiting for others to do their jobs for them?

They are already onsite, or close enough. You would think they'd be in there before the rest. Just think of all the extra man-hours they could bill taxpayers for, under the circumstances.

Moscow Ohio, Clermont County, on the river, was hard hit. Moscow has been around for close to 300 years, but the historic town is said to have no two story buildings anymore. The brand new business that was building now has no building to finish up. Time will tell if they rebuild. Time and insurance, probably.

More damage was done in the Felicity-Bethel-Hamersville area. How lovely. That's exactly where my sister lives. She was driving home from Hamersville.

There was serious damage in other places as well. The Weather Service declared a tornado emergency in Clermont County, in Ohio. Most of us, including the meteorologists, had no idea what that even means. It took help from my brother in Kansas and the weathermen making phone calls before we knew it means multiple twisters from the same storm on the ground at the same time.

We don't get that here.

It's been an eventful week. Between Big Brother and Earth's Mother, our metaphorical and metaphysical family has kept us hopping. And some are hurting for their actual family. My family was fortunate. Most of the people I know were fortunate.

But some weren't, and I don't think they will be worrying about bugs in trees. They have Life and Death to deal with.