Invasive pest trapping season resumes

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The hunt is on.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture is beginning its annual search for pests that could threaten the state’s environment and agricultural industry, the WSDA announced earlier this month. Staff will set thousands of traps statewide to monitor for the introduction or spread of more than 130 invasive pests and diseases, including spongy moth, Japanese beetle, apple maggot and northern giant hornet.

While eradication treatments are ongoing through June, trappers have already started setting the first Japanese beetle traps in the Grandview and Wapato areas where they caught more than 23,000 beetles last year, the announcement said. Trappers will also place approximately 20,000 spongy moth traps and 5,000 apple maggot traps this summer. Both spongy moths and Japanese beetles attack more than 300 different types of plants, which could be devastating to the environment and agriculture should they become established.

Trapping for northern giant hornet worker hornets will not start until July, when workers become more active, according to the announcement. WSDA will trap exclusively in Whatcom County. However, the agency will also be encouraging citizen scientists to trap for these invasive pests again this year, especially in Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, Island, Clallam and Jefferson counties. Public hornet trapping instructions are available on WSDA’s website.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Sven Spichiger, WSDA acting pest program manager, wrote in the announcement. “Although we didn’t confirm any hornets last year, it is too early to let our guard down. They could still be out there.”

WSDA has spent decades monitoring for invasive pests that threaten agriculture or the environment, the announcement said. Agency trapping efforts combined with public reports have prevented invasive pests such as the spongy moth and citrus longhorned beetle from establishing in Washington and devastating trees, forests, parks, farms, and gardens.