First discovered in Queens in…
By Kathianne Boniello
Anyone who has wanted to get all-encompassing information on the Asian Longhorned Beetle will have the chance Saturday when the Alley Pond Environmental Center in Douglaston hosts a special forum on the tree-killing insect.
First discovered in Queens in 1997, the beetle has devastated about 5,000 trees in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, including some in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park last year.
Earlier this month the city Parks Department announced it would begin injecting non-infested trees with a pesticide, imidacloprid, before the beetle has a chance to establish itself.
Because of the new pesticide campaign, set to begin in April, and because the Asian Longhorned Beetle is still in the Queens environment, Dr. Aline Euler of APEC said it was important to hold the forum Saturday.
“There still needs to be vigilance because the beetle is still here,” Euler said. “It’s important for people to know what it looks like and understand its life cycle and know what to do about it.”
The APEC forum is sponsored by a number of Bayside, Douglaston and Little Neck environmental and civic groups, and state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) is also scheduled to attend.
Sponsors include the Douglaston Civic Association, the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee, the Douglaston Garden Club, the Bayside Clear-Springs Council, the East Bayside Homeowners Association, the Property Civic Association, the Bayside Kiwanis Club, and the environmental groups NY Releaf and Central Queens Greens.
Speakers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the city Parks Department were expected to be at the forum.
Native to China, the Asian Longhorned Beetle was first found in separate infestations in Bayside in February 1999, in Flushing in August 1999, and Sunnyside and Ridgewood in 1997.
Asian Longhorned Beetles infect trees by burrowing into the trunks, laying eggs and tunneling back out, leaving holes which interfere with photosynthesis by the leaves, eventually killing the trees.
The only way to keep the beetles, which fly or get blown from tree to tree, from spreading is to chop the tree down and remove its trunk. Tree remains are then chipped twice and burned.
The city has lost about 5,000 trees throughout the metropolitan area because of the beetles. The Parks Department said about 230 trees have been cut down in Bayside and Flushing, and about 1,800 trees were cut down in the area between Greenpoint, Brooklyn and western Queens in the last several years.
The Asian Longhorned Beetle forum, slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, is open to the public for a $5 admission fee at APEC, 228-06 Northern Blvd.
The forum will include speakers, exhibits, and question and answer periods. For more information call APEC at 229-4000.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
