ATTN* IL Agricultural Dept.

         Sometime earlier this year, a plague of insects bore into ash trees, causing these beautiful trees to die off. Now later on this year, I've seen something unusual happening to trees. One place is at the Bussee Woods forest preserve near the city of Elk Grove Village location along Arlington Heights Road. If you look closely on the trees leaves in an area near a path that leads to the view of a lake, I believe another unreported insect outbreak is and has also been occurring on maple tree leaves. Since I've been interested in keeping entomology as a life long hobby, I believe that the insects are causing a rotted spotting or even holes in the maple trees leaves to appear at this forest preserve. The insects are green shield bugs. The reason why this is happening to trees isn't due to a lack of water, its from these insects eating the maple trees leaves. We're taking all of the wildflowers and weeds away to the degree of multiple insect species starving and being forced to feed on whatever they can now, which we see as being a plague. If the trees and wildflowers and weeds keep being cut down and destroyed, and nothings continued to be left for any other insect to feed off of, we'll all die off from a lack of trees. Without trees, there's no oxygen left, which we need to survive off of.

         Another place in IL that's affected I've noticed in the same way, but with brown shield bugs is in Wheaton. People seem to believe it's from a lack of rain but it's really brown shield bugs. They're feeding off of maple trees at that city location too. Why is the solution to keep cutting down trees for the ash borers and soon the maple trees with the shield bugs? Are you crazy?! This isn't the solution. Know why? Easy. Don't you see a pattern of this, plague here yet? What's causing this that needs to be stopped is first of all, not to cut down more trees that are infested. We need every tree we can keep, because it takes so long for a tree to grow! We need to quickly be aware that cutting trees down won't solve this, it will only make this worse! Different insects including animals are going to continue becoming desperate (like thieves breaking and entering into stores by crashing vehicles into stores to rob places to get money from a lack of having a job) and ash borers and shield bugs are only the beginning. We need to stop cutting weeds and wildflowers down to the point of there being nothing else but trees left for insects to feed off of. We're going to make ourselves become extinct from there being a lack of trees and oxygen.

         Here's a few better solutions to this, insect plague that's been beginning to continue to start forming. Instead of scientists wasting valuable time and money watching the reproduction habits of fruit flies, why not breed enormous insect farms of beneficial insects that will be predators of harmful insects such as the ash boreres and shield bugs? Examples being praying mantis, ambush bugs, (which are similar to a praying mantis, and I've seen them on purple cone flowers or echinasea flower heads), lady bugs, etc. Breed the beneficial insects to prefer preying upon the ash borers and shield bugs, embed it into their genetic make up. Or create bait traps for the insects that would contain a scent to lure them to eat what's in the traps like they do for ants.

         We can't keep cutting everything down. That's not the solution at all. This is just crazy I'm seeing something this ridiculous being done all over the place. Doesn't anyone know about the food chain from school? Without plants for herbavores to eat, they'll die. Without herbavores for meat eating predators that prey on the herbavores, they'll die too. Without trees, plants and animals, we'll die. Understand the food chain?

Update of infested areas of trees from shield bug species, brown or green in hue spotted at the following cities:

Green shield bugs - Bussee Woods forest preserve near Arlington Heights, IL.

Brown shield bugs seen in the city of Wheaton, IL, feeding on oak trees.

One of the two species are also causing damage along the road of Bloomingdale driving from Geneva Road heading toward Bloomingdale, IL.

Brown shield bugs are also seen on oak trees too in the Warrenville area. I noticed one today parked at a parking lot on 9-29-15.