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For Educators | For Families

You and your kids are our most important Beetle Busters! Early detection of infestation is one of the keys to getting rid of the ALB for good.

Tens of thousands of our trees have already been destroyed by ALB infestation – but your family can help prevent this from happening in your community.

Here are integrated tools to familiarize your family with the ALB, and equip you and your children to search and report. You’ll also find general guidelines for being a Beetle Buster by helping to stop the ALB all year long.

Explore the ALB Together
Being Beetle Busters offers a number of ways to spend quality time as a family! Make a difference in your community while learning about the ALB and having fun together.

ALB Interactive Game: “Freeze & Collect” Challenge family members to beat each other’s score! (Requires Adobe Flash Player)

Family Activity Pack Downloadable PDF full of indoor and outdoor activities

ALB Public Service Announcements (PSAs) Watch the ALB video and listen to the audio together!

Search and Report
The most important thing you and your family can do is search for ALB and signs of infestation in your area, and report any sightings. Here’s how:

1. Locate host trees on or near your property. Primary host trees include maples, birches, elms, and willows.
2. Examine each tree for signs of infestation, including live beetles and dime-sized exit holes.
3. If you observe beetles or evidence of ALB damage, report your sightings using the USDA Reporting Form. Or, contact your state’s ALB program or State Plant Health Director.

Sighting Tips

• If possible, capture the insects you think are ALBs. Place them in a jar and freeze them. This will preserve the insect for easy identification.
• Take digital pictures of the insect and any damage to your trees.
• Report what you’ve found. A USDA representative may contact you to review your photos and frozen beetle(s).

Help Stop the ALB
The following general guidelines are critical for preventing the spread of ALB in your community!

1. Don’t Move Firewood
The most effective way to stop movement of the ALB is to not move firewood. Trees that are cut into firewood can have ALB larvae inside; these can emerge as adult beetles and infect healthy trees.

• Make sure your wood is from local resources, and burn it where you buy it.
• Don’t carry firewood across county or state lines.
• Don’t move firewood from your property, and don’t move wood out of a regulated area.
• View map of quarantine areas.
• At the end of the cold season, be sure to burn all the wood that you have, so that any larvae in the dead wood can’t spread to living trees.
• When purchasing firewood, burn it where you buy it, and be sure to ask a few important questions to help control the spread of the ALB:
• Where did this firewood come from? Is it local?
• Has this firewood been inspected?
• What kind of wood is it?

2. Allow Access to Your Property.
State and federal inspectors may need to examine the individual host trees on your property if you find an ALB on your property or live in or near a regulated area. It is crucial that you allow officials access to your property for both inspection and eradication work.

3. Don’t Plant Host Trees.
To help limit the trees that supply the ALB with food and shelter, don’t plant ALB host trees on your property. Instead, plant tree species that are not ALB hosts! View a list of recommended trees.

Use Social Media
Learn more about the ALB – and share your family’s experiences – using the many online outreach opportunities that are available for Beetle Busters:

• Flickr: View our ALB Gallery.
• Facebook: Become a Fan.
• Twitter: Follow our ALB Tweets.