WVII speaks with Livingston for report on invasive emerald ash borers
WVII (Channel 7) spoke with William Livingston, an associate professor of forest resources and associate director for undergraduate education at the University of Maine, for a report on emerald ash borers. The invasive Asian beetle was first found in the United States in Michigan in 2002, and was recently found in Madawaska, likely spread by transported firewood, according to the report. The beetle feeds on the inner bark of ash trees, and “once it gets in the stand it kills just about every ash tree that is growing on the site,” Livingston said. The ash trees growing along the UMaine Mall would be threatened if the insect is accidentally transported to campus. “It would be devastating,” said Christel Peters, the research communications coordinator at UMaine.