Minnesota DNR using wasps to slow spread of emerald ash borer in Chippewa National Forest
By Lisa Meadows
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Minnesota (WCCO) — Of all the buzzing buddies of nature, the wasp is one most people aren’t fond of, but if you have ash trees in your yard, three breeds of wasp come in handy, don’t sting and turn out to be hardy too.
“What we’re finding is that these things are extremely cold-tolerant, that we’re not actually getting much mortality until temperatures fall around minus 20, minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit,” Rob Venette, a research biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, said.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and the USDA’s Forest Service jointly operate the parasitoid wasp program.
The program involves releasing special species of wasps to target the invasive emerald ash borer, a pest that has been wreaking havoc on ash trees across the state since 2009. These small wasps target the emerald ash borer at various stages of its life cycle without harming other species.
The program was first implemented in 2010 and has since expanded to 55 release sites.
“He’s a happy flyer. Some of these will go up to five miles at a time,” Brian Aukema, an entomology professor at the University of Minnesota, said.
This year, the program was expanded to the Chippewa National Forest. Over 5,400 wasps were released across 200 acres of infested trees in the forest.
A total of over 8,400 wasps have been released over the last two summers and no new emerald ash borer infestations have been reported.
The parasitoid wasp program is the only biological control for the emerald ash borer in the state of Minnesota.
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