Early one recent morning, Matt Shreiner looked up at a lanky poplar tree near Lake Quinsigamond in Shrewsbury. Helmet on, ropes at his feet and coffee in tow, he was ready for the ascent.
“There’s nothing like climbing a tree, having a sip of iced coffee at 80 feet,” he said.
Shreiner has scaled over 10,000 trees since joining a state effort to defeat the Asian longhorned beetle. The infamous inky-black beetle with white spots and long antennae feeds on trees to the point it can kill them, threatening wildlife habitat, the state’s maple and timber industries, and public safety if the trees fall down.
Climbers and other soldiers in this war have a precise mission: scan trees in the region for any evidence of the beetle.
“It’s sort of like an Easter egg hunt,” Shreiner said. “You’re looking for damage in the tree. You’re looking for something that breaks up the pattern of the bark.”
State workers spend all day climbing trees and walking through forests with binoculars as part of the year-round hunt. Since the bug was first discovered in Worcester County in 2008, staff with the Department of Conservation and Recreation say they’ve surveyed over 8 million maples, willows, poplars and elms. They’ve had to chop down and grind up at least 30,000 — the only way to deal with infested trees.
Officials say the efforts have been successful. DCR recently announced the town of Holden is free of the beetle. And forest workers haven’t spotted an infested tree anywhere in the state since 2021 — which is why it was no surprise that Shreiner didn’t find anything concerning on the poplar tree.
“We think we can eradicate this insect,” said Felicia Hubacz, a forest specialist with DCR.
When officials scan trees for signs of the invasive species, they specifically look for dimples in the bark that the bugs leave as they lay their eggs. After hatching, the larvae dig deeper into the tree, eating its core for over a year until they become adults. They’ll then chew their way out of the trunk, leaving behind exit holes the size of a dime.
“That’s a lot of tunnels in the trunk, which weaken and stress out the tree,” Hubacz said. “Good rainstorm, windstorm — it could knock the tree over.”
She added that without fast and aggressive action, the beetle could have gradually spread across the state and even infiltrated Vermont or New Hampshire.
DCR officials say the invasive beetle likely arrived in Massachusetts via wood packaging material from China. Several other states — including New York, South Carolina and Ohio — are fighting their own infestations.
In addition to the year-round hunt for evidence of the beetle, Massachusetts officials set up a 98-mile special regulation zone around much of Worcester County, restricting the movement of wood and tree trimmings out of the area in order to prevent the beetle’s spread. If someone in the zone needs to dispose of cuttings from trees vulnerable to the beetle, they have to bring them to DCR’s own chipyard in West Boylston.
Hubacz and fellow forest health specialist Mark Faulkenberry noted the Asian longhorned beetle doesn’t travel far, so it’s controllable as long as there aren’t any more infestations and it doesn’t hitch a ride into the state. They said they’ll need to spend another three to four more years inspecting tens of thousands of trees before officials can confidently say no more beetles exist in Massachusetts.
“It just takes one gravid female who can lay 90 eggs [to] start it all over again,” Hubacz said.
DCR staff who look for the beetles and their eggs say they’re proud to be protecting forests. But they acknowledge the work is long and arduous, and just this one insect costs the state and federal government millions of dollars every year.
“It’s sort of like an Easter egg hunt. ... You’re looking for something that breaks up the pattern of the bark.”Matt Shreiner, who inspects trees for evidence of the Asian longhorned beetle
Matt Rich leads a team that trudges through dense thickets and swampy forests, regardless whether it’s 90 degrees and sunny or 20 degrees and snowy. During a recent trip through a forest in Shrewsbury, the team used binoculars to look over trees for signs of egg markings. After a worker reviewed each tree, they yelled out its species and estimated diameter, which Rich logged on an iPad.
The ground crew laughed about how they have strong neck muscles from spending so much of their time looking up. Other obstacles they regularly deal with: poison ivy and ticks. Many ticks.
“I’ve been in days where I’ve been out there and you pull off your pants 30, 40, 50 ticks,” Rich said. “That’s the thing I’m most concerned about.”
Still, the forest workers say they appreciate the opportunity to work outside in nature every day.
That’s why some staff admit it’s “bittersweet” that the state’s Asian longhorned beetle program will potentially end in the next few years. Shreiner and Rich say combatting the beetle has been their job for over a decade and they’ll likely have to transition to something new once Massachusetts is officially free of the bug.
The forest workers say that more importantly, though, they’re proud they’ve had so much success against the beetle. They’re eager to finally defeat it.
“It’s pretty hard to eradicate any insect,” said Cecily Isenberg, who scouts for the beetle on foot. “The fact that we’ve basically eradicated this one is pretty amazing.”
