WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - Workers have begun destroying thousands
of trees in central Massachusetts in the battle to eradicate the
destructive Asian longhorned beetle from the region.

U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Suzanne Bond says
crews from two tree service contractors began cutting down the
first of about 6,000 infected trees Monday, five months after the
invasive pest was discovered in Worcester.

Bond says trees closest to those infested also will be cut down.

Trees in a two-square mile area face the chipper in the hopes of
halting the spread of the black and white beetles, which bore
dime-sized holes in hardwood trees, eventually killing them.

Officials say it could take a decade to complete the process
within the full 64-square-mile regulated area which covers
Worcester and parts of Shrewsbury, Boylston, West Boylston and
Holden.