still deciding

It looks like it's still deciding what type of day it's going to be today. We had some low-lying fog down by the pond this morning. That's broken up, but the skies remain overcast. No forecast for rain, and it's warmer than you'd think from a glance outside.
At 9 am, it's 66 degrees and rising.
The barometer is steady at 29.32 inches.
We've got 3 mph of wind right now.


We're hoping that the skies do clear, and that many of you can join us for a Friday noon Asian Longhorned Beetle hunt at God's Acre. We'll meet off of Swan Ave for a short training, and then send you off with binoculars (bring 'em if you have them!).

Report from the ALB hunt

NECN joined the ALB hunt yesterday:

Cooler and clear

Lovely day for a hike out there today! If you're looking for one to join, the Greater Worcester Land Trust will be continuing their Asian longhorned beetle hunt today at the Nick's Woods property. Join them at noon at on Smith Lane, off Holden Street in Worcester. Bring your binoculars!

At 10 am, it is 72.3 degrees and rising.
29.26 inches of mercury and steady under clear blue skies
41% humidity and steady
1 mph of wind
The stream remains below measurable.

Come search for the ALB!

You can join us in hunting the Asian Longhorned Beetle this afternoon over on the Kinneywood property. The hunt starts at noon at the very end of Dawson Road (just down the street from Cascading Waters). Bring binoculars and water!

At 10 am, it is a comfortable 74.3 degrees and steady
45% humidity and steady
29.18 inches of mercury and rising (those storms are still moving out)
Although we did get a spatter of rain here last night, it wasn't enough to move the rain gauge. It looks like the dramatic weather on that one went north of us.
The stream is below registering.
No wind at the moment.

The development next door continues on apace, 'though they seem for now to have given up the heavy drilling.

ALB found in Jamaica Plain!

An infestation of Asian Longhorned Beetles was found this weekend at Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain, just across from the Arnold Arboretum.
If you are in the Boston area, please be on the lookout for:

1) Adult Asian longhorned beetles (shiny black beetles
with white spots and long, banded antennae)


2) ALB exit holes (dime-sized, perfectly round holes,
especially in maple, but also in birch, elm, horsechestnut, willow and
other
hardwood trees…but not oak)


3) ALB egg-laying sites (divots in the bark ranging in
size from 1/4 to 3/4 inches across – fresh pits often have oozing,
foaming sap)

The infested maple trees have been removed, and USDA/DCR are doing further investigation in the area. Should you find any of these, get in touch with USDA at 866-702-9938.

Rain

We've got rain here this morning, after a night of some rain as well. The stream is up to 4.10 inches and rising out there. The Cascades are trickling a bit faster.
At 9 am it is 45 degrees and rising
The barometer is at 29.47 and steady under cloudy skies
US Fire danger is LOW

We've got a wet hiker coming through now.

And for those interested, you can find the treatment map for this week for the ALB quarantine zone online.

Yesterday's numbers

At 9 am on Thursday it was 66.9 degrees and rising
77% humidity and falling
29.21 inches of mercury and steady

We had an ALB hunt over on Dawson Road at noon on Thursday, which got some nice coverage in Friday's Telegram and Gazette:

The Greater Worcester Land Trust, a nonprofit conservation organization, is fielding a “Beetle Brigade” of trained volunteers who meet regularly to scour conservation land for signs of the invasive insect, and the trust has launched a new round of training sessions to teach ordinary citizens how to recognize the beetle’s telltale destruction.

The idea, said trust Executive Director Colin M.J. Novick, is to supplement professional tree surveyors, go where surveyors have not gone and find problem areas the pros have not yet seen.

“We have not falsely identified a (infested) tree ever,” Mr. Novick told seven people who attended a training session yesterday on trust property off Dawson Road near the Holden line. “You guys are good. Volunteers are good.”

ALB: the hunt is on!

The first sighting of this year's Asian Longhorned Beetle was last week: they are out and about.
Time to go look for them!

This year's first ALB hunt is next Thursday, August 6 at noon.
We're heading to the northwest side of town: Camp KinneyWood and Dawson Road.

Meet at the end of Dawson Road (just keep on going until you run out of road) for a 10 minute training and the beetle hunt!
Bring binoculars if you've got them.

ALB survey tomorrow!

You know you want to do your part against those little critters that are defoliating the city. Here's your chance!

Meet tomorrow at noon at the Green Hill Park golf course parking lot for Asian Longhorned Beetle Survey. We'll be out until 1:30!

This is, as always, weather depended. If it rains, you can't see much up high. So far, it looks as though the rain is going to hold off until later in the afternoon, though.

Hunt the ALB!

It won't be as easy as it was on Sunday, where you could find a giant one riding the back of the Mass Audubon truck, but you can go hunt that destroyer of Worcester's forests, the Asian Longhorned Beetle, this Thursday!

Meet at noon at the Green Hill Park Golf Course parking lot at noon for hunting!

Continuing clear

Another bright sunny day out there. If you're looking for a workout, go take a walk where the trail hasn't been broken yet!

At 10 am, it is 23 degrees and steady
58% humidity and falling (as I watch, in fact; it's down to 57% now)
Barometer stands at 29.74 inches and steady
Clear skies, sun is out and shining

The Cascades are starting to clear a bit. It's really something how they can just look like a rocky hill in the snow.
The squirrels are very busy this morning, and we're also seeing some junkos at the feeder.

For those of you following the plague of the ALB, we've received word from the USDA that cutting will start at Bovenzi Conservation Park this week. You will probably most easily be able to see it heading north or south on Route 190. Bovenzi is the wooded hillside across the highway from Sainte Gobain. Those trees are mostly maples.

Keep those bugs at home

A reminder:
Worcester remains under USDA quarantine.

Wood and wood products CANNOT BE MOVED from the quarantine zone.

If your brother-in-law from Paxton with a chainsaw wants to come down to Burncoat Street and help you clear your yard, that's great. HE CAN'T TAKE THE WOOD HOME, however!

We really don't need to spread the beetle further. And we haven't yet had a hard enough, long enough frost to be sure they're all dead for the year.

Be smart, people!

Rain for October

Sorry for the late post today. Worcester Magazine is running a piece on ALB this week, and a tour of a GWLT parcel for photos was necessary. Yes, in the rain!

At 9 am, it was 59 degrees and steady
98% humidity and steady (and raining)
29.62 inches of mercury and steady
As of 9 am, we'd had 0.12 inches of rain since midnight
Yesterday, we had a total of 0.28 inches.

UPDATE: at noon, we now have had 0.43 inches. That's almost half an inch in twelve hours.

YES, the Cascades are running!

Yes, we are in the quarantine zone

You may not have caught it from today's paper (they buried in on A5!), but the quarantine zone for the Asian Longhorned Beetle has now expanded to include the entire city.

What does that mean?
Wood from the city cannot be moved outside of the quarantine zone (in this case, outside the city).

We haven't found any evidence of the ALB in the Cascades. We have, however, found it in other GWLT properties.

If you'd like to help out the Trust on beetlemania...

The Greater Worcester Land Trust needs your help to survey conservation land for signs of the Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB). ALB cause massive destruction to trees and if not eradicated quickly could lead to the loss thousands of trees on conservation land in Worcester County. We will be training volunteers to survey and identify ALB on Wednesday September 3rd 5:30 PM at the GWLT office (101 Water St. Worcester, 4th floor). The training will take aprox. and hour and a half. Please RSVP to Anne: 508-795-3838 or anne@gwlt.org.
If you are interested in helping, but unable to attend this training please let us know so that we can tell you about future trainings. We will need to survey over 800 acres of forest before the first heavy frost so everyone who is able to contribute time is needed.