Releasing sting-less wasps to combat Emerald Ash Borer continues

State wants your help in tracking wasps

To help attack the tree-killing Emerald Ash Borer, Houston and Winona counties plan to unleash more sting-less wasps.

Last year, Minnesota released more than 180,000 wasps in the counties where the ash borer was established. Over 20 other states have tried the same experiment.

It has cost around $25 billion to treat, remove and replace lost trees from the beetle, according to the USDA and the U.S. Forest Service entomologists.

The University of Minnesota Extension wants your help to detect the smoky winged beetle bandit wasps and emerald ash borer at locations throughout Minnesota. Click the picture for more information.

The Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture has used the wasps against the beetles for five years now, and it seems to be working.

“We’re going out in the fall and winter time and doing sampling at these release sites and infested areas to show that the sting-less wasps are establishing and increasing in numbers,” Jonathan Osthus with the dept. said. 

According to scientists ash borer was accidentally introduced into North America in the 1990s, most likely in wooden shipping crates from Russia, China, Japan or Korea, though its first sighting wasn’t until 2002 in Michigan.

The beetle feeds on tree tissue beneath the bark, destroying the ability to move water and nutrients to branches.