Free Offer To Help Washington Residents Fight Intrusive Pest

It's been ten years since the Washington State Department of Agriculture first detected this destructive pest.  Detection seems to have concentrated in three counties in the eastern part of the state, but there have been two areas on the west side that have had minimal discovery.  We're talking about Japanese Beetles, and the havoc they can wreak is incredible.

In 2015, the first Japanese Beetles were detected at Boeing Field in Seattle and at Sea-Tac airport.  All of the discoveries were of dead beetles.  Future discoveries at tthose locations were also of dead beetles until 2017 when the first live beetles were found at Sea-Tac airport.

Fast forward to 2020.  Up until this time all Japanese Beetle discoveries were limited to the two airfields.  That changed in September when two live beetles were found in Sunnyside and one in Grandview. Heading in to 2021, the largest number of Japanese Beetles found in Washington was 26 in 2018..that was about to change.

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The Japanese Beetlemania Begins...

In 2021 the State Department of Agriculture set traps in the Sunnyside area to catch the invasive species.  They trapped over 24,000 of them.  In 2022, Wapato, Prosser, and Richland joined Sunnyside and Grandview for reported detection.  In 2023, Pasco found five live Japanese Beetles in their area.

How Much Damage Can They Do?

Japanese Beetles eat over 300 different plants/trees/crops.  The top of their food chain are roses, but they are also equally devastating to cherries trees and hops plants.  They will overtake orchards, vineyards, and corn fields and do millions of dollars of damage.  Billions of dollars of revenue would be in danger if Japanese Beetles become widespread in Eastern Washington.

WSDA is continuing a proactive approach to keeping the population from exploding.  Their multi-year approach includes trapping, insecticide treatment, and implementing quarantines when necessary.  They are currently taking applications for free treatments in Benton and Franklin Counties.  You'll need to fill out a form giving WSDA consent to treat your yard with insecticide to help prevent beetle expansion.

You can download the form you'll need to fill out and return here.  If you have fruit trees in your yard or love to smell your roses, you might want to check and see if you are able to take advantage of this limited opportunity.