• Funding for ALB in Central MA
• EAB found in Indiana’s Cass County
• EAB threatens national pastime
• St. Paul to take preventative action
• San Diego County replanting trees
• Monarchs threatened by bark beetle damage

Members of Working Group 5 will be using the coming weeks to generate a multi-stakeholder sign-on letter addressing these varied funding levels. If you are interested in learning more about Working Group 5's goal of encouraging appropriate federal funding levels for forest pests, please contact Paul De Morgan via email, pdemorgan AT resolv DOT org

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Lurking in the Trees now on DVD and public television (full story)

This summer, The Nature Conservancy and the Continental Dialogue teamed up with USDA-APHIS and the US Forest Service to produce a 30 minute documentary about how the Asian longhorned beetle has devastated the all-American working class town of Worcester, MA.

This documentary was produced with input from multiple parties- for example Jodie Ellis from Purdue University represented the Continental Dialogue on the production team. Judy Antipin represented USFS, while Suzanne Bond and Patty Douglas shared that role for USDA APHIS. Numerous community members and partners also offered ideas and in many cases were interviewed on-camera for the film. Lurking in the Trees already is slated for airtime with several public television stations, and we expect more in the near future.

Many thanks to USDA APHIS and USFS for the financial support that made this documentary possible.

Upcoming showings include

• MPBN in Lewiston, ME on the 28th of February

• WCNY in Syracuse, NY, tentatively scheduled for April or May

• WSKG in Binghamton, NY in late April to coincide with Earth Day programming

This documentary is designed as a tool in the fight against forest pests- to humanize the impacts, make people aware of how their individual actions affect the whole community, and to alert everyone to the need for citizens to report what they see around them.

You can get your own copy of the DVD, watch the trailer, or just learn more about the documentary by visiting www.lurkinginthetrees.org

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Many Accolades for the Don’t Move Firewood campaign (full story)

The Don’t Move Firewood campaign has been recognized for excellence many times this year- for its high quality website, overall campaign materials, and for its great videos.

Here are four highlights showing the successes we’ve had:

• "Design for the Greater Good," a new book published by HarperCollins, features the Don’t Move Firewood campaign as a case study

• Advertising Age, a highly influential trade publication, featured Don’t Move Firewood as an example of a successful multi-faceted campaign in their “Good Works” section.

• The Don't Move Firewood campaign won a Silver ADDY® Award from The Advertising Club of Metropolitan Washington. With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY Awards are the world's largest and arguably toughest advertising competition.

• One of Don’t Move Firewood’s short films, “Introducing the Emerald Ash Borer,” was recognized for excellence with a Merit Award for Creative Approach at the International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Montana.

To see a complete list of all of Don't Move Firewood's awards and achievements, visit dontmovefirewood.org/awards

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Northeast Forest Pest Outreach ALB Awareness Month (full story)

Asian Longhorned Beetle Awareness Month took place this past August ‘09 in the greater New England and Mid-Atlantic region. States stretching from Pennsylvania to Maine participated in simultaneous public education campaigns to increase the awareness and knowledge of the citizens of the northeastern region.

Many Continental Dialogue members were involved in ALB Awareness Month. Some, like APHIS’s Christine Markham and David Kaplan, are part of the leadership that supported the whole effort. Others, like Judy Antipin of the USFS, contributed valuable time and expertise. And many others, like Ashley Walter (PA, Dept of Ag), Troy Weldy (NY, TNC), Jenn Forman-Orth (MA, MDAR), created the campaigns on the ground through avenues like train the trainer meetings, billboards, keychains, mailings, PSAs, and posters. Of course, the Dialogue’s Don’t Move Firewood campaign contributed their expertise in outreach and materials design, enhancing the prominence of dontmovefirewood.org in the minds of state, local, and federal partners.

Hopefully, there will be a second annual Asian longhorned beetle awareness month in August of 2010. If you are in the greater Northeastern and Mid Atlantic area make sure to talk with your USDA State Plant Health Director or State Pest Regulatory Officials usually associated with your state department of agriculture in the spring to get the latest news on this possibility.

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Of Interest: Two new Federal Orders to Prevent Pest Introductions (full story)

Prevention of the establishment of two threats, a damaging bacterium found in horse chestnut (Aesculus spp.) stock and a group of three Palm pests, is the motivation behind two of APHIS' newest Federal Orders.

Unfortunately, the horse chestnut pathogen is already very widespread in Europe, which makes prevention of its eventual arrival quite challenging. However, the Federal Order is certainly a positive and logical step in the tree pest prevention continuum. This particular bacterium causes “bleeding” lesions which spread throughout the tree, and infection results in the death of trees within as little as three to five years.

The three Palm pests are two weevils and a nematode. They are all quite difficult to detect on stock, and according to APHIS these pests pose a threat to 17 genera of palms already widely planted in North America. Damage to palms varies with the specific pest and palm species, but all cause economic losses and visible damage.

To learn more about these two bans, visit the APHIS Federal Import Orders site and scroll down to find the APHIS Actions entries. Clicking on those links will allow you to download PDFs detailing the Federal Orders.

Thanks to Faith Campbell, fcampbell AT tnc DOT org, for alerting us to these new Federal Orders.

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