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Destructive Invasive Beetle Creeps Closer to NH

Flikr Creative Commons / MJIphotos

The Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive Asian beetle that has killed millions of Ash trees in the Great Lakes region, is creeping closer to New Hampshire.

This week an Emerald Ash Borer infestation was found in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. The pest has spread from Michigan, through the Mid-Atlantic region, to upstate New York and Connecticut.

Kyle Lombard with the division of Forested Lands says, on its own the ash borer moves very slowly.

Lombard: How it moves quickly is in firewood from somebody going camping in another state, or in logs that are being shipped long distance.

Lombard says, apart from trying to enforce the out-of-state firewood ban, the only way to slow the spread of the insect is to catch infestations early.

Lombard: If you go outside, and you say well that’s odd that there’s such a large number of woodpeckers working on a small number of ash trees. That’s pretty unusual and it usually means that there’s some insect infestation in those trees.

Sam Evans-Brown has been working for New Hampshire Public Radio since 2010, when he began as a freelancer. He shifted gears in 2016 and began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about “the natural world and how we use it.” His work has won him several awards, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one national Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best environmental reporting in any medium. He studied Politics and Spanish at Bates College, and before reporting was variously employed as a Spanish teacher, farmer, bicycle mechanic, ski coach, research assistant, a wilderness trip leader and a technical supporter.
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