Worcester's beetle invasion

TO SAVE the Northeast's hardwood forests from the Asian long-horned beetle, the city of Worcester is going to have to sacrifice its infested trees. The city should not also have to sacrifice city services to pay for limiting the spread of this devastating pest.

As city, state, and federal officials coordinate their plan of attack on the beetles, the sole open question is where to find the $17 million to $24 million needed for the first year of the program. After a US Department of Agriculture official suggested the city and state cover 50 percent of the cost, Congressman James McGovern of Worcester and the state's two senators asked Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer to carry the entire burden.

The members of Congress argue, with reason, that Worcester, nearby towns, and the state share no blame for the beetles, which probably arrived in pallets or shipping crates from China. Moreover, the threat of uncontrolled spread of the insects is national in scope. Worcester is the northernmost East Coast city hit by the beetles and is not far from national forests in Vermont and New Hampshire. The beetles have a particular fondness for maples, ash, and birch - all common in the region's woods and as shade trees on lawns and along roads.

Officials have already designated a collection site in Worcester for felled trees. The actual cutting will not begin until after the first hard frost, which kills adult beetles. Because so much of the infestation is in a residential area, officials want to limit cutting to trees that are actually infested, with neighboring trees protected with pesticide.

After an attack by the beetles in an area in central New Jersey, loggers cut down both affected trees and healthy hardwoods within a quarter mile. Worcester deserves to be spared that fate.