A ravenous beetle now threatens Minnesota's North Woods

[NickB79]

https://m.startribune.com/a-ravenous-beetle-now-threatens-minnesotas-north-woods/600351514/?clmob=y&c=n&clmob=y&c=n

REMER, MINN. - Along a lonely stretch of road inside the Chippewa National Forest, a stand of black ash trees is under attack.

Discovered last fall, it signals the farthest and coldest known place a hungry forest menace has come in northern Minnesota. For now the infestation is helping University of Minnesota researchers study the emerald ash borer's ability to adapt to cold — and whether milder winters will hasten its spread into the vast acreage of ash trees so prevalent in the north.

They've eaten their way through the ash trees around the Twin Cities already.

It also doesn't help that we didn't have a winter this year. Instead of -30F nights, it barely went below 0F. And most of Minnesota is in drought because we didn't get any snow, further stressing the trees.

[applegrove]

1. As animals go they are butt ugly.

[WestMichRad]

2. Emerald ash borer, of course

Range is creeping northward because winters now are sometimes not cold enough (-30 or colder) to kill the larvae.

The loss of black ash in forested wetlands will change the ecology of those areas.