Schumer: Restore invasive species funds for states

Published 2:11 pm Thursday, June 9, 2011

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Sen. Charles Schumer says a proposed funding cut in Washington will allow a marauding beetle to continue to kill ash trees from the Midwest and to New York state.

Schumer has proposed restoring a $464 million cut to an invasive species fund. He says that despite fiscal problems, the nation must stop the emerald ash borer first seen in 2009 in western New York’s Cattaraugus County and threatening to sweep across the upstate region.

The green beetle has already ripped through 13 Midwestern states and Pennsylvania.

Schumer says the funding is needed to create more traps designed to attract the pest to trees that are sacrificed to save the forest.

The beetle burrows into bark and stops a tree from bringing water up through its roots.