Leaf-mining bug infestation leaving birch leaves brown across the state

Many birch leaves in Fairbanks and Anchorage are going from green to brown as the result of an insect infestation. U.S. Forest Service entomologist Stephen Burr in Fairbanks says a leaf mining bug believed to have come to the state on imported ornamental trees, is to blame.
Ambermarked birch leafminer larva. (Photo courtesy of the Canadian Ministry of Forests and Range)“The amber-marked birch leaf-miner,” Burr explained. “It’s an invasive sawfly, which is a primitive spec