Volume 6 • Number 4 • Winter 2008-2009

Worcester’s Asian longhorned beetle crisis has unfolded like the screenplay for a thriller.

That script will keep developing for some time to come, with tense new twists, continued threats and a rare flash of humor. Like any good thriller, its complex cast includes one major villain and some true heroes.

UMass Extension entomologist Bob Childs has been on the lookout for the beetle known as “ALB” for years, and is part of an extended team led by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR), working to make sure there is a happy ending to this saga.

His efforts highlight a key Extension strength: to move quickly, effectively, confidently, and cooperatively in getting critical information to those who need it. Bob, along with UMass Amherst faculty members Dennis Ryan and David Kittredge and graduate student Mollie Frielicher, has built on Extension’s long history of research and training in urban forestry, its deep involvement in the landscape industry, and its strong relationship with the City of Worcester.

That is the lesson here. Effective responses to a crisis, like happy endings in the movies, don’t just happen.

This issue of In Common represents a milestone for UMass Extension. For the first time, we are publishing both print and online versions, with both electronic and mail distribution.

We hope that the online edition will allow us to serve more readers more effectively with clickable links to a range of resources.

As always, pdf versions of all past editions of In Common can be downloaded from the UMass Extension Web site.

In addition, you may subscribe to either version of In Common: The Extension Quarterly using our online form.

We thank you.

— Nancy Garrabrants, Director