If the imposing Asian longhorn beetle makes a fitting villain for Ravenswood residents who stand to lose their trees to the beasties, an unassuming park worker from Morton Grove is the area’s unlikely hero.
Federal officials credit Barry Albach, 30, with preventing a broader infestation of the insects through his astute identification of some bugs he found in his pickup truck. Upon seeing a warning about the beetles on the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Web site, Albach called the authorities.
“He deserves some kind of citizen’s award,” said Kenneth C. Kruse, an official with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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Although Ravenswood residents recall seeing the polka-dotted beetles around for perhaps three years, it took an auspiciously timed camping trip by Albach to reveal the bug’s dastardly identity.
The story began two weeks ago, when Gary Luka, one of Albach’s friends from his job with the Skokie Park District, sawed off a tree branch that was overhanging his property in the 4300 block of North Winchester Avenue. Luka offered the wood to Albach to use when he went camping.
“I noticed holes in the wood but didn’t see bugs of any kind,” Luka said. “I’d seen these beetles in previous years, but I just stepped on them and pushed them to the side.”
Albach put the wood in the back of his pickup truck, where it sat under a fiberglass cover for a week. Then on July 9, his mother and a neighbor spotted a strange-looking critter crawling on Albach’s rear-view mirror. When he then opened the back, Albach saw three more of the beetles crawling amid the wood.
Curiosity took Albach to his computer, where he did a simple Internet search on beetles and the first Web site he came to was devoted to the Asian longhorn beetle.
Albach then called the USDA’s Kruse and reported he had found an Asian longhorn. Kruse said he was initially skeptical.
But after Albach described the bug in detail, Kruse said he knew they had a serious problem on their hands.
Federal officials picked up one of Albach’s beetles on Friday and shipped it to Washington, where a positive identification was made. Local officials were notified late Monday.
The original wood choppings now rest in a container at the Skokie Park District, sealed with tape from the USDA.
While authorities believe no beetles escaped from Albach’s truck, they are doing surveys of the areas where Albach parked the truck after picking up the firewood.