John Considine: Forests used for baseball bats now falling victim to invasive ash borer beetle

Parasites, disease and invasive species have been wreaking havoc on America's forests for decades. Now the emerald ash borer has killed some 50 million trees an...

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This story was originally broadcast June 21, 2018, and was updated July 16, 2018.

Parasites, disease and invasive species have been wreaking havoc on America’s forests for decades. Now the emerald ash borer threatens the forests from which logs are drawn to make baseball bats. For many years, bat suppliers to Major League Baseball have turned to the U.S. Forest Service for help in engineering the equipment.

On the eve of Washington, D.C. hosting the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game, Federal Drive with Tom Temin checked in with John Considine, a materials research engineer at the Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory. He discussed whether the beetle blight is affecting wood bats.

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