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Boring Beetle Ignites Conservationist Concerns

The Emerald Ash Borer beetle is invading the Midwest. The small green Chinese bug has been eating its way through Michigan, where more than 15 million trees have been devastated over the past few years. Now, it's been found in Illinois.

Michele Norris talks with Warren Goesch, the manager of natural resources for the Illinois State Agriculture Department, about the beetle that is killing Ash trees throughout the Midwest. The bug was found this week in Kane County, Ill.

The beetle is the latest of a wave of alien invaders with elegant names. There's the heavenly bamboo, a shrub from China that's crowding out native plants in the South. And in California, the glassy winged sharpshooter is an exotic insect that threatens the state's wine industry.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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