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| Agriculture specialist prevents costly beetle epidemic
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Detroit-based U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialist Randy Bart thought that July 26 was going to be another ordinary day-but he was wrong. After boarding a 747-cargo flight from Sweden, Bart discovered missing markings on some of the wood bracing used to secure the shipment of robotic machinery in the aircraft. These markings are the international standard signifying that wood packing material has been treated to eliminate pests. | | European bark beetles get mighty hungry when they find untreated wood.
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Bart inspected the unmarked wood packing and discovered numerous adult beetles and beetle larvae crawling under the bark of the freshly cut wood. Bart placed the shipment of machinery on hold and contacted the local U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Protection and Quarantine office so the beetles could be identified and to determine if the shipment needed to be quarantined.Agriculture department officers and insect identification expert Dr. James Zablotny, stationed only a few miles away, quickly arrived at the aircraft. They identified three different types of European bark beetles, Scolytidae, any one of which would be a very high-risk pest from Europe. These beetles have been known to kill forests of conifer trees throughout Europe. The shipment was placed under CBP quarantine and the wood packing was quickly incinerated.Michigan is the nation’s third largest producer of Christmas trees, a favorite diet of the hungry European bark beetles. Northern Michigan also has hundreds of square miles of beautiful pine and spruce forests. An infestation of European bark beetles could have caused a scenario much like Michigan’s recent Emerald Ash Borer infestation, costing taxpayers millions of dollars to control and eradicate. (EC) |
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