Stimulus money goes to tree re-planting

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - Massachusetts is getting nearly $4.5 million in federal stimulus money to replace trees cut down in the battle to eradicate the Asian longhorned beetle in the Worcester area.

The funding is part of $89 million in stimulus money announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday for 78 projects in 30 states.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation says as many as 20 people will be hired to start the planting this fall. More planting will continue next spring on public and private land.

About 25,000 trees in a 66-square-mile area of Worcester, Holden, Boylston, West Boylston and Shrewsbury have been cut down in an effort to thwart the spread of the destructive beetle, which bores dime-sized holes in hardwoods, eventually killing them.