Emerald Ash Borer Beetle Spreading Throughout Maryland

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It's the color of emeralds but there's nothing precious about a destructive bug invading Maryland.

Alex DeMetrick reports despite efforts to stop it, the emerald ash borer beetle is spreading and running up millions of dollars in damage.

The life cycle of the emerald ash borer beetle is easy to see on the Internet, but when they're larva tunneling unseen beneath bark, they're killers.

"Heavily infested, totally destroyed," said Dick Bean, Maryland Department of Agriculture. "We're going to see a lot more damage very quickly now."

Because in the next few weeks, adult ash borer beetles will emerge and fly off to find mates, triggering a new generation of insects that hitched a ride to the midwest from Asia in wood two decades ago.

"Emerald ash borer actually is across 15 different states, so it's something that spreads beyond Maryland," said USDA Under-Secretary Rebecca Blue.

When the beetle made it to Maryland in 2003, the state cut down and destroyed thousands of infested ash trees to stop it. It didn't work. Now, all but the Eastern Shore is vulnerable.

"It takes them a while once they establish in an area to build up in the numbers when they can really start overwhelming trees, and we're just at the beginning of seeing that happen," Bean said.

"[The losses are] millions and millions of dollars. We estimate the emerald ash borer beetle could create as much as $277 million in damage in Maryland," said MDA Secretary Buddy Hance.

Tiny Asian wasps deadly only to the beetles will be released in an effort to control them, and survey traps are going up to track the ash borer's spread. They move fastest in firewood carried from an infested area to one about to be infested.

Making people more aware of how we help invasive pests spread is part of a month-long campaign by federal and state agriculture agencies.