Beetle threat leads to big Tukwila tree-cut plan

Wednesday, June 5, 2002

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TUKWILA -- State officials are considering destroying more than 1,000 fruit and hardwood trees around a Tukwila nursery where five tree-devouring citrus longhorned beetles escaped.

Experts believe getting rid of the trees could help spare the West Coast from a catastrophic infestation that could mean millions of dollars in losses.

John Muth saw one of the beetle invaders 10 months ago at his Tukwila bonsai tree business.

"I knew what it was as soon as I saw it," Muth told The News Tribune of Tacoma. "I was deeply tempted to squish it."

Instead, he trapped it, and alerted authorities.

The state Department of Agriculture wants to cut down most trees within an eighth of a mile of Muth's business, including 30 at the home of Sheila Malbrain. State officials want to act before late July, when as many as 1,000 offspring of the five beetles could chew their way out of tree trunks and scatter.

"Pretty much everything in our whole yard," said Malbrain, who lives across Interstate 5 from the nursery.

"You're talking about giant holes in my yard. It's going to look like Bosnia."

Residents on the far side of the freeway have circulated a petition asking for a two- to four-month delay of tree cutting in their area, meaning it would begin after the infestation's next generation is due to emerge. Bulletlike exit wounds will appear by late next month or early August on trees where beetles hatched and matured.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said in April that the fruit and hardwood product industries could lose $1 billion annually if the beetle roots itself in Washington. Then the infestation would keep spreading, experts said.

"The threat would be to the entire Northwest, California and much of the rest of North America as well," the report said.

"Not being aggressive at this point could result in a very costly and extensive eradication effort later and/or having to live with this very damaging pest."

The beetles have unpredictable egg-laying patterns, according to a panel of experts brought together by the state.

The experts used examples from New York and Illinois, states where the federal government has budgeted $365 million through 2009 in an effort that so far has not been successful in eradicating the Asian longhorned beetle, a slower-spreading cousin of the citrus beetle.

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