Assemblymen Doug Fisher and Joseph Cryan

BUDGET PANEL RELEASES FISHER/CRYAN BILL COMBATTING ASIAN LONGHORN BEETLE
Measure Would Appropriate $3 Million in Federal Funds
To Expand Asian Longhorn Beetle Suppression Program

(TRENTON) -- The Assembly Budget Committee today released legislation Assemblymen Douglas H. Fisher and Joseph Cryan sponsored to contain and eradicate Asian longhorn beetles in New Jersey. "Asian longhorn beetles have killed thousands of trees in Middlesex and Union counties," said Fisher (D-Cumberland/Salem/Gloucester). "An all-out effort is needed to ensure that Asian longhorn beetles do not infest other areas of the state and lay waste to our valuable landscaping industry. Federal funds are vital if we are going to successfully protect our trees, neighborhoods, and nursery-related businesses."

The Fisher/Cryan measure (A-2703) would appropriate $3 million in federal funds to expand the state Department of Agriculture’s Asian longhorn beetle suppression program.

The Asian longhorn beetle was first discovered in New Jersey in 2002 in Jersey City, and a subsequent infestation was found in 2004 in the Middlesex and Union county municipalities of Carteret, Rahway, Woodbridge, and Linden.

The beetle's first sighting in the United States was in Brooklyn’s Green Point neighborhood. The beetle is believed to have entered the country in untreated wooden shipping pallets from Asia.

The beetles -- native to China and Korea -- have the ability to devastate forests and urban trees. An adult female gouges a hole into the bark, where a single egg is laid. Once hatched, the larvae burrows further into the tree until it reaches the heartwood and pupates into an adult. As an adult, the beetle continues to burrow through the tree until it emerges from a perfectly round, nearly dime-sized exit hole. A tree will die if infested by enough beetles.

"Asian longhorn beetles have ruined forests and neighborhood trees throughout Central Jersey since 2004," said Cryan (D-Union). "The Asian longhorn beetle suppression program has been successful so far. But work still needs to be done. The suppression program must continue if New Jersey is to successfully defeat the recent Asian longhorn beetle infestation."

The bill previously was approved by the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

The measure was released 11-0. It now heads to the Assembly Speaker, who decides if and when to post it for a floor vote.

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FOR RELEASE: May 18, 2006

CONTACT:
Assemblyman Cryan (908) 624-0880
Assemblyman Fisher (856) 455-1011
Derek Roseman (609) 292-7065