It’s Invasive Species Awareness Week — now. Pay it heed. Invasive species, it turns out, are a huge deal in the US, in New York. Everywhere, in fact.
Coping with invasive insects, pathogens and the like have cost, in the US as a whole, upward of … OK, I’m hedging already. Is it $40 billion a year? $120 billion, maybe? The estimates vary widely.
What about global losses? Ahhhhh. Nailing those, especially vital ecosystem-regulating services, is where “difficult” morphs into “impossible,” for now and perhaps forever. It’s tricky, measuring something when it’s gone.
So what about the price here in New York? Unknown, though not for lack of trying.
Example: My admittedly quick-and-dirty search uncovered a 2005 report which noted that costs for eradicating Asian Long-horned beetle from New York City and Long Island had ranged between $13 and $40 million.
Likewise in of 2005, New York spent about a half million dollars to control sea lampreys in lakes Ontario and Erie — with no end in sight.
More recently, in 2016, I learned that oak wilt — first discovered In New York in 2008 — has cost $500 grand to control. Some midwestern states spend over $1 million a year to control it. Pretty pricey if you ask me.
What helped here? Partly it’s the luck of the draw — oak wilt arrived decades ago, making inroads throughout the Midwest slowly but relentlessly. It can take time to recognize the true nature of a pathogen — or most any invasive pest. Then it’s a catch-up game to stay on top of it. If you can.
New York saw what had happened elsewhere and has aggressively surveyed (good IPM!) and eradicated infestations quickly while still small. But that $500 grand price tag? Yow.
Still, the economic costs of losing every (yes, every) oak would far greater.
Yet to come — what to if you find Asian long-horned beetle, oak wilt, and the like.