On Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:04:28 -0400, Pat Kiewicz wrote:

I wonder if this survey effort was prompted by the "unusual and
widespread maple problems" being found locally this summer. I remember
that the Emerald Ash Borer infestation smouldered for several years as
an unknown "ash decline" so this campaign to recruit citizen scouts for
Asian Longhorned beetles may be a particularly good idea (maple trees
being #1 on the list of host trees).

We had a really bad Asian Lonhorned Beetle problem about 10 or so years
ago here in Chicago and it has finally subsided. Entire blocks in old
neighborhoods lost some very old shade trees. These neighborhoods looked
very different after they cleared all the trees. Even though the city
planted replacements it will take decades for them to get large enough to
shade the streets again.

Anyway, people in the infected areas knew of the Longhorned Asian beetle
years before they found out it was a problem and trees began dying. The
beetles would be flying all over the place. Had someone been alert about
this beetle the problem might have been mitigated and thwarted before it
got so out of hand that all the trees in entire neighborhoods had to be
removed. It's probably good you got that letter and that the USDA is on
top of the situation.

BTW: IIRC, I thought I read once, back when we got infested, that Ann
Arbor or somewhere in Michigan also had an infection before we did. That
would have been more than a decade ago. Hopefully these things didn't
return.