Invasive species in Normal – unexpected learning
During a long round-trip between Normal and St. Louis, I stopped frequently to stretch my painful legs. At one such stop I studied an educational display about the ash borer insect, an invasive species that causes a lot of damage in Illinois.
Ash borer display at Illinois highway rest stop. Click to embiggen.
Row of damaged trees. Click picture to visit series in photo album
A few days later MrsDoF and I were having breakfast at a restaurant near our home. I got to looking at a tree in front of the restaurant. Crown dieback? Check. Epicormic shoots? Check. Fissures? Check. Exit holes? Check. Sinuous excavations in the exposed wood? Check. There were a whole row of these trees. On the way home we rode through the gas station lot. They were selling firewood.
In Illinois we say; “DON’T MOVE FIREWOOD”. I don’t know if it was the vector for the bugs that destroyed these trees, but it could be. On the other hand, the diner is near the highway so a hell of a lot of pickup trucks and trailers come in and out.
Borer insect's exit hole. Click to embiggen.
Firewood on sale at nearby gas station. Might be the vector, might not. Click to embiggen
Invasive species are a real problem of course – but I do enjoy that moment where you pick up some information and then see it line up with the real world. As Gregory House said; “Me, I just like knowing stuff.”
I saw the exact same exhibit coming back from Springfield last month. Didn’t see the trees, though. Around the NW ‘burbs of Chicago, they released some wasps that are supposed to predate on borers.
Makes me think of “I know an old lady who swallowed a fly…”
I live in Dutchess County, NY, on the east side of the Hudson River. The counties directly across the Hudson already have Ash Borers – as yet, we don’t, but it can only be a matter of time.
By the way, totally off-topic, I watched this TED video today. Where can I sign up?!!
We have the Ash Borers here also and people are not to take infected wood to another county so you will see wood for sale in front of farms, homes and businesses all over.