As the climate heats up, plant and animal pests once limited to more southerly latitudes are spreading devastation in the Northeastern U.S.
Chris Steigerwald saw the browning tops of the pitch pines and hiked toward them for a closer look. As he drew near, the New York forester said he saw tree trunks marked with hundreds of oozing, popcorn-like defects—evidence the trees were infested by a tiny beetle with a big appetite for pine.
“I never like finding the southern pine beetle because I know all these trees are going to die,” Mr. Steigerwald said of his July trek. But he is glad he spotted them: These beetles, “a pine tree predator,” he said, quickly spread if his team doesn’t catch them early. Week after week, Mr. Steigerwald drives and hikes Long Island’s Central Pine Barrens, tags trees infested with the beetle and chainsaws them down. Since the invasive insect was discovered on Long Island in 2014, the New York Department of Conservation reports that foresters have cut down more than 10,000 pines in the network of state and federal preserves there. Eradication is impossible, agency documents say; they can only hope to slow it down.
Just a few decades ago, it seemed unlikely that the southern pine beetle—a species native to the Southeastern U.S., Mexico and Central America—could make its way to New York. Today, invasive-species researchers say this beetle is one in a rising tide of plants and pests marching north. Invasive species like the southern pine beetle, emerald ash borer and kudzu already cost the U.S. economy $120 billion a year in damage and removal costs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Northeastern U.S. has long been vulnerable to invasive species because of its transportation hubs, through which travelers and goods inadvertently spread non-native species, and the hurricanes and other wind events that move seeds and insects up the Eastern Seaboard. Research also shows that state laws governing the sale of non-native plants in the region are inconsistent.
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