Mike Levin: “earlier this month, the emerald ash borer was positively detected in the Upper Peninsula of my home State of Michigan…”

“earlier this month, the emerald ash borer was positively detected in the Upper Peninsula of my home State of Michigan for the first time. Officials believe that this may be an isolated outbreak, and hope that it can be successfully contained. Unfortunately, this is an aggressive pest that we in Michigan have been fighting for years, however we have had only limited success in containing the infestation in the past. It is believed that the ash borer was brought to Michigan about 6 years ago through the channels of international trade. What started as a local infestation in a few counties in southeastern Michigan has grown to infest the entire Lower Peninsula. This find in a State park in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is significant because it shows that efforts and the resources provided until now have not been adequate to contain the pest. While even as we speak, research is being conducted by some of our State's best experts on ways to kill the bug while saving our ash trees, a lack of funding is hampering these efforts. Whatever funding is available must be balanced between research efforts and eradication and containment. For now, that means removing our ash trees. In Michigan alone, we are nearing 10 million trees removed. I cannot tell you how distressing it is for communities which have been forced to remove trees and have little or no funding to replace them.…”