The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development are issuing an interior quarantine in some northern Michigan forests to stop the spread of the balsam woolly adelgid. The BWA is an invasive species that extracts the nutrients of trees and kills them. The quarantine affects forests in parts of Clare, Missaukee and Osceola Counties.
Michigan State University Forest Entomology Professor Deb McCullough said the trees BWA eat are crucial to Michigan’s ecology.
“Balsam fir often grows in areas that either flood in the spring, or they're damp, or the soils are heavy, and they can tolerate those soils. They provide a lot of cover for wildlife; they drive some nutrient cycling. They provide shade for a lot of animals and so forth,” she said. “We just really don't want another invasive test beating up on our native forests."
BWA often attack native fir trees like balsam and Fraser, which is often used for Christmas Trees. The insect secretes a cotton-like wax that gives the appearance of cotton balls. They attach themselves to trees and suck of the nutrients, killing the tree.
“One of the diagnostic symptoms of balsam adelgid is often what we call gaudy twigs. Where the ends of the shoots, that should be growing and producing good needles that are going to do a lot of photosynthesis, become swollen,” she explained.
“They look odd, and the needles tend to drop off, and sometimes the buds die, and as it feeds on the branches and especially down on the trunk, even down to the base of the tree, it’s reducing vigor. It’s taking the nutrients out of the tree,” Mccullough added.
As part of the quarantine fir trees can’t be transported in or out of the restricted area without exemption or written permission.
Cut Christmas trees can be moved through the area from November through March. In addition, nursey stock can be moved through the area if said stock is covered. Adelgid spreads easily and often goes undetected.
“We are urging everyone to do their part in preventing the spread of this invasive species and others like it,” said Steve Carlson, MDARD's pesticide and plant pest management division director. “Although the pest cannot travel far on its own, movement may happen inadvertently on transported nursery stock, yard waste, and even firewood.”
MDARD is asking anyone who finds BWA to report it to them via email or at 800-292-3939. BWA can also be reported to the Midwest Invasive Species Information Network.
