Tiny Pest Prompts Quarantine On Wood From Bucks County
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Pennsylvania agriculture officials have issued a quarantine for wood from Bucks County after finding a tiny bug that presents a major threat to the state's black walnut trees.
It's called the Walnut Twig beetle and it was found on trees in a yard in Plumstead.
The beetle is no bigger than a poppy seed, but it carries a fungus that can devastate stands of black walnut and maybe other kinds of walnut as well.
Agriculture department spokeswoman Nicole Bucher said it likely arrived in wood from a southwestern state and officials want to stop it from spreading.
"The quarantine does restrict movement of any walnut tree material and that includes anything from lumber to any living, dead, cut, fallen part of the tree, even wood chips."
Bucher said the department hasn't found any other infestations, but it's continuing to look.
Homeowners can help, if you notice your black walnuts looking droopy, contact your local extension office and have somebody look at your tree.
Reported by Pat Loeb, KYW Newsradio.
