More wildfires could be in store for Long Island’s East End thanks to a tree-killing beetle. A wildfire ripped through about 600 acres of the vulnerable Pine Barrens just one month ago, prompting a statewide residential burn ban in effect through May 14.
Started by a backyard campfire gone wrong, it was fueled by strong winds, dry conditions and hundreds of uncleared dead trees.
In an interview with the New York Post, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said a dozen of the county’s trees fall victim to the southern pine beetle every day.
The invasive from Central America was first seen in Suffolk about a decade ago. It penetrates tree bark, stopping the flow of nutrients and killing a tree in only two to four months. Its favorite target is the pitch pine, the Pine Barrens' most common tree, but it has also expanded to places like Rocky Point Preserve, Napeague State Park and even Fire Island.
Romaine has asked the state for funding for natural insecticides, though he said the best defense is cold weather, which Long Island has not had enough of.
Protection of the Pine Barrens is crucial in supporting a healthy ecosystem and preventing pollution of the island’s sole-source aquifer, which lies underneath.
