USDA Announces 2025 Plans for Eradicating Asian Longhorned Beetle in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and South Carolina

Press Release

Contacts:
April Dawson
April.Dawson@usda.gov

Suzanne Bond
Suzanne.M.Bond@USDA.gov

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is announcing its 2025 plans for combatting Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) infestations in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and South Carolina. Every year, APHIS and its partners evaluate and determine the most effective options for eliminating the pest from the United States.

“We need people who live in and around ALB infestations to help look for and report the damage the beetle causes to trees,” said Josie Ryan, APHIS’ National Operations Manager for the Asian Longhorned Beetle Eradication Program. “By looking at your trees and reporting any suspicious tree damage, you can help us find the beetle sooner and eliminate it quicker.”

This year, the ALB program will focus on inspecting trees in quarantined areas in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and South Carolina, and removing infested trees at no cost to property owners.  State partners in New York and Ohio are exploring options for insecticide treatments in localized areas to protect non-infested trees from becoming infested with ALB. Program officials will monitor for the beetle’s presence and the movement of wood inside and around each infested area, conduct training sessions for compliance agreement holders, respond to calls for assistance, and perform outreach. APHIS will also continue coordinating with partners to develop new methods to eradicate the beetle. On March 14, 2025, 5.2 square miles were removed from quarantine in portions of Ohio. APHIS is planning to deregulate partial areas in Massachusetts and New York later this year.

People living and working in quarantine zones may not move regulated items out of the area without a compliance agreement, permit, or certificate. Regulated items include firewood (from all hardwood species), nursery stock, woody debris (dead or living), and green lumber from ALB host trees. All ALB host trees are regulated and include maple, elm, willow, birch, poplar, buckeye/horse chestnut, ash, sycamore, mimosa, golden rain tree, katsura, and mountain ash.

State and federal officials monitor the movement of wood within and around regulated areas to enforce the quarantine and may issue fines to individuals and businesses that do not comply with the regulations. A business or person wanting to move regulated articles out of the quarantine zone may: (1) enter into a compliance agreement with the program and obtain the needed permit or certificate for those articles, or (2) request that program staff inspect the articles and directly issue the needed permit or certificate. To register for free compliance training, please call your local office:

• In Massachusetts, call 508-852-8110.
• In New York, call 631-288-1751.
• In Ohio, call 513-381-7180.
• In South Carolina, call 843-973-8329.

People who live in an ALB-quarantined area can help by:

1. Allowing eradication program officials access to your property to inspect trees and remove any infested trees that are found.
2. Hiring tree or landscape companies that have compliance agreements with the eradication program to ensure that woody material is disposed of properly.
3. Contacting your local eradication program office or municipality for information on yard waste disposal procedures for moving woody materials such as branches, stumps, and logs from your property.
4. Contacting your local eradication program office before moving any tree materials, live trees, or nursery stock, which could be infested with ALB.
5. Buying or responsibly gathering firewood where you will burn it or using certified heat-treated firewood because moving firewood can spread the beetle.

The ALB program has eradicated ALB infestations in Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; New Jersey; Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Islip in New York; and a portion of East Fork State Park and Stonelick and Monroe townships in Ohio.

Currently, 273.4 square miles are under federal quarantine for ALB in the United States: 110 square miles in Worcester County, Massachusetts; 43 square miles in central Long Island, New York; 44 square miles in Clermont County, Ohio; and 76.4 square miles in Charleston and Dorchester counties, South Carolina. For more information about the beetle and program activities, please call the ALB toll-free hotline at 1-866-702-9938 or visit www.aphis.usda.gov/pests-diseases/alb.

ALB eradication programs are cooperative programs. APHIS works with USDA’s Forest Service and Agricultural Research Service, and state partners. State partners include Massachusetts’ Department of Conservation and Recreation and Department of Agricultural Resources; New York State’s Department of Agriculture and Markets; Clemson University’s Department of Plant Industry and the College of Charleston; and Ohio’s Department of Agriculture, Department of Natural Resources, Clermont County, and Ohio State University.