Alien invaders - from nature - pose growing threat in region
Adam Bosch
Taxpayers nationwide have spent billions of
dollars to combat natural invaders from abroad — and the fight has gotten tougher here in the Hudson Valley and Catskills.
The threat of invasive species has grown by leaps over the past decade as more destructive bugs, plants, animals and viruses migrated into our region. Scientists say the invaders are terrifying because they destroy farm crops, kill native trees and animals, threaten tourism, and gobble up our tax dollars along the way.
"The rate of invasions is steady or rising," said David Strayer, a research ecologist at the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies in Dutchess County. "We're talking about the loss of tens of billions or trillions of dollars, and it's hard not to pay attention to that."
Over the past five years alone, some of the most damaging and persistent pests have debuted across our region. Their spread represents a threat to fish and trees, but also to human health and our already-stretched wallets.
- The emerald ash borer, a penny-size beetle that kills ash trees, migrated into Ulster County last year and appeared in West Point this summer.
Nationwide, the emerald ash borer has caused an estimated $10 billion to $20 billion in damage. Most of that comes from the cost of cutting down street trees killed by the beetle in urban areas. Those trees are chopped and chipped to kill the bug and to prevent dead trees from falling on people.
The emerald ash borer poses a special threat in New York. Scientists fear the bug could spread along the Pennsylvania border, where the Louisville Slugger company harvests ash trees to make thousands of bats for Major League Baseball each year. The state cut some 2,500 trees in Ulster County last year to find and stop the beetle.
- Didymo algae was first discovered here in the Esopus Creek in 2009, and it has already spread to the Rondout Creek and the east and main branches of the Delaware River. The algae — also known as "rock snot" because of its gooey appearance — gobbles up oxygen and suffocates everything else that shares its ecosystem.
That includes micro-organisms that sustain fish in our rivers and creeks. Experts fear that didymo could harm regional tourism if it accumulates in popular fly-fishing areas.
- Brown marmorated stink bugs are feasting on farm crops from Warwick to Saugerties. The bug was first discovered near the hamlet of Highland in 2008, and scientists found a cluster of its eggs at a Marlborough winery this year.
Locally, the voracious bug could damage millions of dollars of crops, including apples, grapes and tomatoes. The bug damages crops by using its pointy beak to suck out their seeds and other nutrients.
- Giant hogweed was found at two locations in Sullivan County last month. The plant, which can grow as tall as 16 feet, poses an alarming threat to human health. Its sap can cause blisters that last for months or years, and it can cause blindness if it gets into the human eye.
Hogweed usually spreads slowly, but its health hazards are so serious that the state Department of Environmental Conservation has a team dedicated to killing the plant.
What's more, the scariest invader is also knocking on our region's door.
Ecologists say the Asian long-horned beetle is enemy No. 1 because it eats and kills nearly a dozen species of hardwood trees. The black-and-white bug has already destroyed more than 50,000 trees in New York City, Chicago, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
A 2005 DEC report said New York City spent as much as $30 million a year to fight the Asian long-horned beetle, first discovered there in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Experts say the Hudson Valley is likely the next stop on the long-horned beetle's tree-killing tour.
"I would want to do everything to make sure the ALB doesn't get here," said Troy Weldy, director of ecology management for The Nature Conservancy. "The bug loves maple trees, and everyone looks at maples as the tree with the bright red leaves that bring people here in the fall."
The cost of fighting these invaders is difficult to assess, but all authorities agree the price tag is huge.
Many cite a 2005 study by Cornell University professor David Pimentel, which found that "alien species" cost the U.S. $120 billion a year in crop losses, control efforts and other damages.
New York lawmakers put $3.8 million toward fighting invasive species for each of the past two years.
The state also received a total of $3.8 million in federal grants since 2010 to fight foreign bugs, animals and plants. DEC officials expect more grant money to battle the emerald ash borer and Asian long-horned beetle.
On local ground, efforts like that to eradicate snakehead fish from the Catlin Creek and Ridgebury Lake in Wawayanda have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The DEC poisoned those waters twice, in 2008 and 2009, to kill the pest that eats native fish. None has been found there since.
Other costs are more hidden. For instance, zebra mussels once clogged water intake pipes at power plants across the state, forcing companies to install special filters. The result? Higher electricity rates.
"All across the country, there are these small increases in tax rates or people writing checks to their tree service," Strayer said. "It's actual dollars."
Costs are also long-lasting. Most invaders have few or nopredators in North America, and scientists have not found a means to eradicate them.
That's why many believe the U.S. should focus on the source. Invaders are getting here through "increased and careless" global trade, they said.
Some hitch a ride on wooden cargo crates or in ballast water, while others cross our borders on plant and animal imports. Most invaders come from our biggest trade partners in Asia.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and federal Customs and Border Protection are charged with inspecting cargo, but a 2005 panel of experts assembled by state lawmakers to study invasive-species said that less than 2 percent of incoming shipments are inspected. The state's Invasive Species Task Force report also suggested that federal inspectors shifted their emphasis after the attacks of Sept. 11, toward the watch for weapons and away from natural pests.
"We have to get better at not allowing these things to get into the country in the first place," Weldy said.
Still, we are getting better at response, quarantine and education efforts once the invaders arrive. That same 2005 panel led to the creation of PRISM, or Partnerships for Regional Invasive Species Management, a campaign that carved the state into eight regional groups.
Those groups — including chapters in the Catskills and Hudson Valley — have helped governments assess their risk by surveying ash trees or combing local waters for invasive species.
They've also pushed public education through campaigns to stop the transportation of firewood, which helps spread the emerald ash borer.
Those efforts are part of a strategy to fight the invaders — a strategy that says if you can't stop them, slow them down and wait for science to catch up.
"We've got to slow them down until we have better tools in the toolbox to fight them," said Chuck O'Neill, coordinator of invasive species programs for Cornell Cooperative Extension.
"With globalization, I don't think we're ever going to see a day that we're not going to need to be vigilant."
abosch@th-record.com