Serious pest targets popular white-bark birch trees
A voracious insect – the bronze birch borer – is picking off beloved birch trees throughout Oregon.
Common for many years in Eastern Oregon, the hard-to-control beetle first showed up west of the Cascades in 2003 in Portland, where it has killed hundreds of trees. It slowly migrated and is now found in abundance as far south as Klamath Falls, according to Nicole Sanchez, a horticulturist with Oregon State University Extension Service.
Sanchez has co-authored a detailed fact sheet on the problem called Homeowner Guide to Managing Bronze Birch Borer in the Upper Klamath Basin. The information is relevant for the entire state.
https://www.technology.org/2018/07/16/serious-pest-targets-popular-white-bark-birch-trees/
