Meet the beetles

City councilors take up Asian Longhorned Beetles tonight, at a hearing at Franklin Park.

The session starts at 6 p.m. at the Franklin Park Clubhouse, 1 Circuit Dr.

The hearing is by the council's Committee on Environment and Health, which will review work done to keep the tree-killing alien bugs from spreading past the grounds of Faulkner Hospital, where six infested trees were found last year. Federal officials immediately imposed a quarantine area around the hospital - residents are not allowed to bring any tree limbs outside the area. The latest plans call for injecting trees - or in some cases, the ground around trees, with insecticide in the area surrounding the hospital.

At he hearing, experts will explain how to identify possible evidence of beetle infestation.

"Among the strengths of West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, and Roslindale are the parks and open space areas," City Councilor Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain) says. "Anything that could threaten that warrants immediate attention, education, and prevention."