Baseball Bats, Endangered By Bugs

Infestation Threatens To Destroy Ash Trees, The Major Bat Wood The infestation of emerald ash borers is growing at such a pace that the bat-makers of Pennsylvania and New York are worrying over the future of Major League Baseball's favorite bat wood, according to a report today in The New York Times. The ash borer is an invasive species -- a foreign beetle beautiful to behold, but with a dramatic downside. Our ash trees don't enjoy the same natural resistance that trees enjoy on the ash borer's native continent. Invasive species are often called "biological pollution" and biologists put them at the top of the list of threats to biodiversity worldwide. Close to home, the ash borer is a rowdy fan disrupting the national pastime. For more, see this New York Times story.