'THE (EMERALD) GREEN MENACE'

          Have you seen the big purple prism-shaped kite-lookin’ things hangin’ in trees around the North Georgia area? Well, we’ve got one on our farm, and at first, it kind of perturbed me that no one asked if they could hang one up, or for that matter, even told us that they were hanging one. But now, I’m a curious sort, and after a bit of diggin’ to find out exactly what they’re about, I’m proud to have one on the place.

          Turns out they’re insect traps designed specifically for attractin’ and capturin’ invasive and destructive pests. It’s all a part of a survey being conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Forestry Commission. Thousands have been set in an effort to determine if the Emerald Ash Borer beetle (a.k.a. The Green Menace) has made it to North Georgia, yet.

Emerald Ash Borer

Brought here, accidentally, from Asia, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is one of many ‘hungry pests’ that can cause significant damage to our nation’s natural resources. The ½ inch-long adult beetles eat the leaves off of Ash trees, causin’ little damage, but their larvae feed on the trees’ inner bark, starving the tree of nutrients and ultimately killin’ it within just two-years.

The spread of the Emerald Ash Borer beetles has primarily been attributed to the transport of infested logs and firewood, and it has already killed tens of millions of Ash trees in North America since its discovery in Michigan, in 2002. From there, the EAB infestation has steadily spread into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Missouri, Virginia, Minnesota, New York, Kentucky, Iowa, and then, just last year, Tennessee.

As a matter of fact, the National Park Service just recently confirmed the presence of the invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetles inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, having discovered them near the Sugarlands Visitor Center and in the Greenbrier Cove area.

Skeltons of Fraser Firs at Clingmans Dome, GSMNP

That brings to mind how three other invasive pests… the Chestnut Blight, the Balsam Woolly Adelgid, and the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid… have devastated the forests of the Southern Appalachians over the past century. The mighty American Chestnuts are no more; now only bare, gray skeletons of the Fraser Fir stand on Clingmans Dome, and currently, national and state forest services are waging a losing battle in trying to save one of the most important species of trees of the Southern Highlands… the Eastern Hemlock.

          All of a sudden, I have a whole new appreciation for those purple kite-lookin’ things hangin’ in the trees around our area. I’m all about ‘em, now.