The emergence of an invasive pest in a mid-Michigan county that feeds on fir trees is worrying state officials enough that the agriculture department is rolling out an interior quarantine in one county.
After balsam woolly adelgid (BWA) was found in a forest in Missaukee County last year, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development announced new restrictions that prohibit the removal of fir trees outside the county.
The move is meant to prevent the spread of the invasive species, a sap-feeding insect that attacks fir trees, making them more susceptible to disease. MDARD's decision to quarantine the movement of trees out of the county is meant to protect the state's timber industry and especially its Christmas tree growers.
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