Solutions Suggested by 30 Years’ Work

Faith Campbell receives award for activism from National Association of State Foresters; 2016

For nearly 30 years I have documented bioinvasion threats and gaps, first in three Fading Forests reports (available here), then in five years of blogging. Here I pull together that information and suggest — in most cases reiterate — steps to address these threats and gaps. I list sources of discussion of the underlying issues – other than my reports and blogs – in references at the end of this blog.

My first premise is: robust federal leadership is crucial:

  1. The Constitution gives primacy to federal agencies in managing imports and interstate trade.
  2. Only a consistent approach can protect trees (and other plants) from non-native pests.
  3. Federal agencies have more resources than state agencies individually or in any likely collective effort — despite decades of budget and staffing cuts.

My second premise is: success depends on a continuing, long-term effort founded on institutional and financial commitments commensurate with the scale of the threat. This requires stable funding; guidance by research and expert staff; and engagement by non-governmental players and stakeholders. Unfortunately, as I discuss below, funding has not been adequate or stable.

My third premise is that programs’ effectiveness needs to be measured, not just effort (see the NECIS document referenced at the end of the blog).

SPECIFICS 

Preventing new introductions continues to be the most effective action. Mitigating options decrease and damages increase once a non-native pest has entered the country – much less become established (see Lovett et al. 2016 and Roy et al. 2014). I recognize that preventing new introductions poses an extremely difficult challenge given the volume and speed of international trade and the strong economic forces supporting free trade. These challenges have been exacerbated over several decades by the political zeitgeist – the anti-regulatory ideology, the emphasis on “collaborating” with “clients” rather than imposing requirements through regulations. Although the current “America First” policy might reduce import volumes and therefore reduce the invasive species threat to some extent, the anti-regulatory stance has only strengthened.

containers at the Port of Long Beach, California

Decades of cutting key agencies’ budgets and personnel are another factor. However, the damage to America’s natural systems is so great that we must try harder to find more effective strategies (See the Fading Forest reports; my previous blogs; Lovett et al. 2016; and APHIS annual reports – e.g., the 2019 report here)

Prevention

  1. Despite adoption and implementation of new international and national regulations to stem pest introductions, introductions continue – although probably at a lower level than would otherwise be the case. Delays in adoption of regulations (documented in Fading Forests II and III and my two recent 30-years-in-review blogs have facilitated damaging introductions and spread.

Solutions 

  1. Stakeholders press USDA leadership to initiate rules intended to strengthen phytosanitary protection and expedite their completion
  2. APHIS promote and facilitate analysis of current programs and policies by non-agency experts to ensure the agency is applying most effective strategies (Lovett et al. 2016).
  • Adoption of insufficiently protective regulations (documented in FFII, FFIII, two 30-years-in-review blogs) – adopted in part because APHIS is trying to “balance” trade facilitation and phytosanitary protection – has further contributed to damaging pests’ introduction and spread.

Solutions:

  1. Boost priority of preventing pest introductions by amending the Congressional finding in the Plant Protection Act [7 USC 7701(3)] as follows

Existing language: “[I]t is the responsibility of the Secretary [of Agriculture] to facilitate exports, imports and interstate commerce in . . . commodities that pose a risk of harboring plant pests or noxious weeds in ways that will reduce, to the extent practicable, as determined by the Secretary, the risk of dissemination of plant pests and noxious weeds .… “

Amend to read as follows: “…. in ways that will reduce prevent, to the greatest extent practicable feasible, as determined by the Secretary, …” [emphasis added]

  • Adopt several actions to strengthen phytosanitary protections at the point of origin (Lovett et al. 2016)
  • Expand pre-clearance partnerships — as authorized for plants under Q-37 regulations and ISPM-36
  • Expand sentinel tree programs
  • Promote voluntary substitution of packaging made from materials other than solid wood.
  • APHIS doesn’t use the enforcement powers that it has under Plant Protection Act (see several of my past blogs)

Solutions:

CBP inspectors search for pests in a pallet; CBP photo
  1. APHIS follow the lead of Customs and Border Protection and begin penalizing importers on the first instance of their wood packaging not being in compliance with ISPM#15 (see blog here).
  2. APHIS prohibit use of wood packaging by countries and importers of categories of imports that – over the 13 years since implementation – have developed a record of frequent violations of ISPM#15.
  3. APHIS use its authority per revised Q-37 regulations to negotiate with countries that export plants to the U.S. to establish “integrated measures” programs aimed at minimizing the risk of associated pests being transported to the U.S.
  4. APHIS use its authority per revised Q-37 to place in the “Not Authorized for Import Pending Pest Risk Assessment (NAPPRA) “limbo” category genera containing North American “woody” plants  (see Roy et al. 2014; Lovett et al. 2016).

Spread within the U.S.

  1. The United States lacks a coordinated system to prevent pest spread within the country (see Fading Forests III Chapter 5). Even our strictest methods, like APHIS’s quarantines regulating interstate movement of goods, have failed to curtail spread of significant pests. The most obvious example is the emerald ash borer.

The regulations governing movement of the sudden oak death pathogen in the nursery trade have also failed: there have been periodic outbreaks in which the pathogen has been spread to nurseries across the country. Between 2003 and 2011, a total of 464 nurseries located in 27 states tested positive for the pathogen, the majority as a result of shipments traced from infested wholesalers. In 2019, plants exposed to the pathogen were again shipped to 18 states; eight of those states have confirmed that their plant retailers received infected plants (see my blog from summer here).

Another serious gap is the frequent failure of APHIS and states to adopt official programs targetting bioinvaders that will be difficult to control because of biological characteristics or cryptic natures – even when severe impacts are demonstrated. Recent examples include the laurel wilt disease complex, goldspotted oak borer, polyphagous and Kuroshio shot hole borers and associated pathogens, and even the spotted lanternfly (although the last has received significant funds from APHIS.)

redbay killed by laurel wilt disease, Georgia; photo by Scott Cameron

Solutions:

  1. APHIS apply much more stringent regulations to interstate movement, based on a heightened priority for prevention in contrast to facilitating interstate trade. E.g., prohibit nurseries on the West Coast from shipping P. ramorum hosts to states where the pathogen is not established.
  2. APHIS encourage states to adopt quarantines and regulations aimed at preventing spread of invasive pests to regions of the state that are not yet infested. For example, the sudden oak death pathogen in California and Oregon; the borers in southern California.
  3. APHIS abandon plans to deregulate emerald ash borer and step up its support for state  regulations on firewood.
  4. APHIS stop dumping pests it no longer wants to regulate onto the states through the “Federally Recognized State Manage Phytosanitary (FRSMP) program”.
  5. APHIS revise its policies so that the “special needs exemption” [7 U.S.C. 7756] actually allows states to adopt more stringent regulations to prevent introduction of APHIS-designated quarantine pests (see Fading Forests III Chapter 3).

To help fill the gaps, the states are trying to coordinate their regulations in some important areas. The most advanced example is the voluntary Systems Approach to Nursery Certification, or SANC program. APHIS has supported this initiative, including by funding from the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Program (see below). However, it is a slow process; USDA funds first became available in 2010. The states are trying to coordinate on firewood, but we don’t yet know what the process will be.

  • Funding shortfalls (See the three Fading Forests reports, my blogs about appropriations)
  • Increase APHIS’ access to emergency funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation by  amending the Plant Protection Act [7 U.S.C. 7772 (a)] to include this new definition of “emergency”:

the term “emergency” means any outbreak of a plant pest or noxious weed which directly or indirectly threatens any segment of the agricultural production of the United States and for which the then available appropriated funds are determined by the Secretary to be insufficient to timely achieve the arrest, control, eradication, or prevention of the spread of such plant pest or noxious weed.

  • Although APHIS has the most robust prevention program of any federal agency, its funding is still inadequate. Stakeholders should lobby the Congress in support of higher annual appropriations.

The Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Program (now under Section 7721 of the Plant Protection Act) has provided at least $77 million for tree-pest programs (excluding NORS-DUC & sentinel plant programs and other programs) since FY 2008. Much useful work has been carried out with these funds. However, these short-term grants cannot substitute for stable, long-term funding. I reiterate my call for stakeholders to lobby the Congress to provide larger appropriations to the APHIS Plant Protection program and Forest Service Forest Health Protection and Research programs.

Long-term Responses to Bioinvasive Challenge

More stakeholders are advocating raising the priority of – and providing adequate resources to – such long-term solutions as biocontrol and breeding trees resistant to pests and restoring them to our forests. Advocates include the state forestry agencies of the Northeast and Midwest, some non-governmental organizations, some academics, and individual USFS scientists. One effort resulted in inclusion of language in the 2018 Farm Bill (see blog here) – although this approach has apparently run into a dead end. The new emphasis on breeding has so far not been supported by agency or Congressional leaderships.

test planting of an American chestnut bred to be resistant to chestnut blight

Solutions:

  1. USFS convene workshop of the federal, state, National Academy, academic, and NGO groups promoting resistance breeding in order to develop consensus on priorities  and general structure of program.

Explicitly include evaluation of the CAPTURE Project’s (see blog here) efforts to set priorities to guide funding allocations and policies; and proposals for providing needed supportive infrastructure – facilities, trained staff in various disciplines. (See my blogs here.)

Report results of meeting to USDA leadership, Congress, and stakeholders

Then ensure implementation of the accepted approach by both Research and Development and Forest Health Protection programs. Include provisions to provide sustainable funding.

These proposed actions still do not address ways to correct the provisions of the international phytosanitary agreements (World Trade Organization and International Plant Protection Convention) that complicate – or preclude – efforts to prevent introduction of pests currently unknown to science. This  issue is discussed in Fading Forests II. A current example is beech leaf disease (described here).

Continuing inadequate engagement by stakeholders

Most constituencies that Americans expect to protect our forests don’t press decision-makers to fix the problems I have identified above: inadequate resources, weak and tardy phytosanitary measures. Some of these stakeholders are other federal agencies, or state agencies – or their staffs. They face restrictions on how “political” they can be. But where are the professional and scientific associations, representatives of the wood products industry, forest landowners, environmental NGOs and their funders, urban tree advocates Efforts by me, USDA, and others to better engage these groups have had disappointing results.

As I have documented, groups of USFS scientists have made several attempts to document the extent of invasive species threats and impacts and to set priorities. So far, they have not gained much traction. Another USFS attempt, Poland et al. in press, will appear at the end of the year. Will this be more successful?

I detect growing attention to educating citizen scientists for early detection; but if there is an inadequate – or no – official response to their efforts won’t people become discouraged?

SOURCES

Lovett, G.M., M. Weiss, A.M. Liebhold, T.P. Holmes,  B. Leung, K.F. Lambert, D.A. Orwig, F.T. Campbell, J. Rosenthal, D.G. McCullough, R. Wildova, M.P. Ayres, C.D. Canham, D.R. Foster, SL. Ladeau, and T. Weldy. 2016. NIS forest insects and pathogens in the US: Impacts and policy options. Ecological Applications, 26(5), 2016, pp. 1437–1455

National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Species “Tackling the Challenge.”

Poland, T.M., Patel-Weynand, T., Finch, D., Miniat, C. F., and Lopez, V. (Eds) (2019), Invasive Species in Forests and Grasslands of the United States: A Comprehensive Science Synthesis for the United States Forest Sector.  Springer Verlag. (in press).

Roy, B.A., H.M Alexander, J. Davidson, F.T Campbell, J.J Burdon, R. Sniezko, and C. Brasier. 2014. Increasing forest loss worldwide from P&Ps requires new trade regulations. Front Ecol Environ 2014; 12(8): 457–465

Thirty Years of Tree Pest Analysis, Continued – Risks of New Introductions

It is widely recognized that invasions of non-native species occur as a consequence of international trade (see Seebens et. al. 2017 – full citations at the end of this blog). This is as true for non-native forest pests as for any other bioinvader – see Aukema et al. 2010; Liebhold et al. 2012, Lovett et al. 2016. In fact, gross domestic product – as an indicator of levels of trade — is a better predictor of the number of forest pest invasions in a given country than the country’s amount of forested land (Roy et al. 2014).

shipping containers at port of Long Beach, California

As I noted in my previous blog, I began studying and writing about the threat to North America’s forests from non-native insects and pathogens in the early 1990s. I reported my analyses of the evolving threat in the three “Fading Forests” reports – coauthored by Scott Schlarbaum – in 1994, 2003, and 2014. These reports are available here.

I document here that both introduction and spread of pests within the country have continued apace. While significant efforts have been made to prevent introductions (described briefly under the “Invasives 101” tab of the CISP website), they have fallen short. As I noted in Fading Forests III, programs aimed at preventing spread of pests within the country remain fragmented and often are unsuccessful.

The Challenge: Huge Volumes of goods are moving, providing opportunities for pests

Since 1990, volumes of imported goods more than quintupled. Within the U.S., a total of 17,978 million tons of goods were transported in 2015; 10,776 million tons of this total by truck. About one-third of this total – 5,800 million tons – was moved farther than 250 miles. These vehicles moved on a public roads network of 4,154,727 miles (US DOT FFA). Consequently, once a pest enters the U.S., it can be moved quickly into every corner of the country.

Introductions

By and large, establishment of tree-killing pests has occurred at a fairly steady rate of about 2.5 per year, with “high-impact” insects and pathogens accumulating at 0.43 per year (Aukema et al. 2010). Since introductions did not rise commensurately with rising import volumes, Lovett et al. (2016) concluded that the recently adopted policies for preventing introductions referenced above are having positive effects but are insufficient to reduce the influx of pests in the face of ever-growing global trade volumes. The study’s authors went on to say that absent more effective policies, they expect the continued increase in trade will bring many new establishments of non-native forest pests.

One group of forest pests did not enter at a steady rate, but rather entered at a higher rate since 1985 – wood-boring insects. Experts concluded that the increase probably reflected increases in containerized shipping (Lovett et al. 2016). At the global level, the rate of fungal invasions has also recently been reported to be increasing rapidly (Roy et al. 2014).

Asian longhorned beetle

Geography of trade patterns also matters. Opening of trade with China (in 1979) offered opportunities for pests from a new source country which has a similar climate and biology. Roy et al. describe the importance of phylogenetic relatedness of pests and of tree hosts in explaining tree species’ vulnerability to introduced pests. The most vulnerable forests are those made up of species similar to those growing in the source of the traded goods – i.e., the temperate forests of the northeastern U.S. – when goods are imported from similar forested areas of Europe and Asia. Chinese-origin wood-boring pests began to be detected around 1990. This already short interval probably underestimates how quickly pests began arriving; detection methods were poor in those years, so a pest was often present for close to a decade before detection.

Between 1980 and 2016, at least 30 non-native species of wood- or bark-boring insects in the Scolytinae / Scolytidae were newly detected in the United States (Haack and Rabaglia 2013; Rabaglia et al. 2019).  Over the same period, approximately 20 additional tree pests were introduced to the continental states (Wu et al. 2017; Digirolomo et al. 2019; R. Haack, pers. comm.) plus about seven to America’s Pacific islands. Not all of the new species are highly damaging, but enough are. See my previous blog here.

Many of the tree-killing pests were probably associated with pathways other than wood packaging. These include 6 of the 7 Agrilus species, sudden oak death pathogen, three pests of palm trees, the spotted lanternfly, beech leaf disease; and the pests introduced to America’s Pacific Islands.

HIGH-RISK PATHWAYS OF INTRODUCTION

Already in the 1990’s it was evident that better preventing pest introductions would depend on shutting down the variety of pathways by which they move around the world.   At that time, attention focused on imports of logs and nursery stock (nursery stock makes up one component of a broader category called by phytosanitary agencies “plants for planting”). Both logs and “plants for planting” had well-established histories of transporting pests and import volumes were expected to grow. We have since learned that there are many more pathways!

Plants for Planting

Imports of “plants for planting” (phytosanitary agencies’ term, which encompasses nursery stock, roots, bulbs, seeds, and other plant parts that can be planted) have long been recognized as a dangerous pathway for introduction of forest pests. For example, this risk was the rationale for adopting the 1912 Plant Quarantine Act. Charles Marlatt, Chairman of USDA’s Federal Horticultural Board (see “Then and Now” in Fading Forests III here), wrote about the risk in National Geographic in April 1911 (urging adoption of the 1912 law) and again in August 1921. See also Brasier (2008), Roy et al. (2014), Liebhold et al. (2012), Jung et al. (2016).

Japanese cherry trees being burned because of scale infestation
January 28, 1910; Agriculture Research Service

Of the 91 most damaging non-native forest pest species in the U.S. (Guo et al. 2019), about 62% are thought to have entered North America with imports of live plants. These include nearly all the sap-feeding insects, almost 90% of the foliage-feeding insects, and approximately half of the pathogens introduced during the period 1860-2006 (Liebhold et al. 2012). Specific examples include chestnut blight, white pine blister rust, Port-Orford-cedar root disease, balsam woolly adelgid, hemlock woolly adelgid, beech scale, butternut canker, dogwood anthracnose, and sudden oak death. In more recent years, introductions via this pathway possibly include ‘ōhi‘a rust, rapid ‘ōhi‘a death pathogens, and beech leaf disease. The gypsy moth, while a foliage feeder, was not introduced via imports of live plants.

The APHIS annual report for 2018 reported that in that year we imported 18,502 shipments containing  more than 1.7 billion plant units (plants, bulbs, in vitro materials, etc.).

Liebhold et al. 2012, relying on 2009 data, found that about 12 percent of incoming plant shipments had symptoms of pests – a rate more than 100 times greater than that for wood packaging. Worse, a high percentage of the pests associated with a shipment of plants is not detected by the federal inspectors. The meaning of this finding is unclear because the study did not include any plant genera native to temperate North America and APHIS points out that infestation rates varied considerably among genera in the study. However, APHIS has not conducted its own analysis to document the “slippage rate” on imports of greatest concern to forest conservationists, i.e., imports of woody plants. I provide details on pests detected on imports of woody plants in recent in my blog here.

Clearly the risk of pest introductions continued at least until recently. I reviewed an APHIS database listing pests newly detected in the country during the period 2009-2013. I concluded that approximately 37 of the 90 “new” pests listed in the database (viruses, fungi, aphids and scales, whiteflies, mites) were probably introduced via imports of plants, cuttings, or cut foliage or flowers. I discussed these matters in greater detail here.

Adoption of a new regulatory regime governing imported plants for planting  (Q-37 regulation) in 2018 is too recent to for us to see its impact. But the new regulation sets up a process under which APHIS can impose more protective regulations on specific types of plants or plants from certain countries of origin to counter a perceived concerning level of risk. Until APHIS begins activating its new powers by negotiating more protective regulations governing plant imports from high-risk sources, it seems unlikely there will be any meaningful change in the introduction rates.

Crates, Pallets, and Other Forms of wood packaging (solid wood packaging, or SWPM)

Recognition of the risk associated with wood packaging is much more recent. In 1982, a USDA risk assessment concluded that the wood boring insects found in crates and pallets were not of great concern (USDA APHIS and Forest Service, 2000). However, contradictory indications were quickly documented – including from APHIS’ own port interception data – which the agency began collecting in 1985. Over the 16-year period 1985-2000, 72% of the 6,825 bark beetles (Scolytidae) intercepted by APHIS were found on SWPM (Haack 2002). Cerambycids (longhorned beetles) and buprestids (jewel beetles) make up nearly 30% of insects detected in wood packaging over the last 30 years (Haack et al. 2014).

Detection of outbreaks of the Asian longhorned beetle and other woodborers in the mid-1990s made it clear that wood packaging was, indeed, a high-risk pathway.

Of the 91 most damaging non-native pest species in the US, 30% probably arrived with wood packaging material or other wood products (Liebhold et al. 2012). This group includes many of the most damaging pests, the deadly woodborers – Asian longhorned beetle, emerald ash borer, redbay ambrosia beetle,  possibly the polyphagous and Kuroshio shot hole borers.

CBP agents inspecting a pallet

As noted above, introductions of wood borers have risen in recent decades, widely accepted as associated with the rapid increase in containerized shipping after 1980. In 2009 it was estimated that 75% of maritime shipments were packaged in crates or pallets made of wood (Meissner et al. 2009). A good history of the global adoption of containerized shipping is Levinson, M. The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger (Princeton University Press 2008)

The simultaneous opening of trade with China (in 1979) offered opportunities for pests from a new source country which has a similar climate and biology. Chinese-origin wood-boring pests began to be detected around 1990. This already short interval probably underestimates how quickly pests began arriving; detection methods were poor in those years, so a pest was often present for close to a decade before detection.

I have already documented numerous times that, despite the U.S.’ implementation of the International Standard of Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) #15 in 2006, live quarantine pest woodborers continue to enter the U.S. in wood packaging. The best estimate is that 0.1% of wood packaging entering the United States is infested with wood-borers considered to be quarantine pests (Haack et al. 2014). More than 22 million shipping containers entered the U.S. via maritime trade in 2017 (US DoT). As noted, an estimated 75% of sea-borne containers include wood packaging. Applying the 0.1% estimate to these figures results in an estimate that as many as 17,650 containers per year (or 48 per day) transporting tree-killing insects enter the U.S.

Over a period of nine years – Fiscal Years 2010 through 2018 – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detected more than 28,600 shipments with wood packaging that did not comply with ISPM#15 (Harriger presentations to the annual meetings of the Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases). While most of the non-compliant shipments were wood packaging that lacked the required mark showing treatment per ISPM#15, in 9,500 cases the wood packaging actually harbored a pest in a regulated taxonomic group.

Disturbingly, 97% of the shipments that U.S. CBP found with infested wood packaging bear the ISPM#15 mark certifying that wood had been fumigated or heat-treated (Harriger 2017). CBP inspectors tend to blame this on widespread fraud in use of the mark. On the other hand, one study found that larvae can survive both treatments – although the frequency of survival was not determined. It was documented that twice as many larvae reared from wood treated by methyl bromide fumigation survived to adulthood than larvae reared from heat-treated wood; the reason is unclear (Nadel et al. 2016).

The APHIS’ record of interceptions for the period FYs 2011 – 2016 contained 2,547 records for insect detections on wood packaging. The insects belonged to more than 20 families. Families with the highest numbers of detections were Cerambycids – 25% of total; Curculionidae – 23% (includes Dendroctonus, Ips, Orthotomicus, Scolytinae, Xyleborus, Euwallacea); Scolytidae – 17% (includes true weevils such as elm bark beetles); Buprestids – 11%; and Bostrichidae – 3%. Not all of the insects in these groups pose a threat to North American plant species.

One encouraging data point is that since 2010, there have been no detections of species of bark and ambrosia beetles new to North America in the traps deployed by the USDA Forest Service Early Detection and Rapid Response program (Rabaglia 2019). The 2014 recognition of the Kuroshio shothole borer apparently did not result from this trapping program.

There have been several changes in the wood packaging standard and its implementation by CBP since 2009, the year Haack et al. 2014 analyzed the “pest approach rate”. APHIS has not carried out a study to determine whether these recent changes have reduced the approach rate below Haack’s estimate of 0.01%.  Consequently, we do not know whether these changes have reduced the risk of pest introductions.

Other Pathways That Transport  Fewer Pests –  Some of Which Have High Impacts

Insects that attach egg masses to hard surfaces can be transported by ship superstructures, containers, and hardsided cargoes such as cars, steel beams, and stone. While relatively few species have been moved in this way, some have serious impacts. The principal examples are the gypsy moths from Asia, which feed on 500 species of plants (Gibbon 1992). 

The United States and Canada have a joint program – under the auspices of the North American Plant Protection Organization (see RSPM #33) aimed at preventing introduction of species of Asian gypsy moths. The NAPPO standard originally went into force in March 2012. Under its terms, ships leaving ports in those countries during gypsy moth flight season must be inspected and cleaned before starting their voyage.

Gypsy moth populations rise and fall periodically; it is much more likely that egg masses will be attached to ships during years of high moth population densities. These variations are seen in U.S. and Canadian detection reports – as reported here.

While most AGM detections are at West Coast ports, [here;  and here] the risk is not limited to that region. AGM have been detected at Wilmington, NC; Baltimore, MD; Charleston, SC; Savanna and Brunswick, GA; Jacksonville, FL; New Orleans, LA; Houston and Corpus Christi, TX; and even McAlester, OK.  

Nor is the risk limited to the ships themselves. In 2014, more than 500 Asian gypsy moth egg masses were found on four shipments of imported steel slabs arriving at ports on the Columbia River in Washington.

Between 1991 and 2014, AGM was detected and eradicated on at least 20 occasions in locations across the United States (USDA AGM pest alert). Additional outbreaks have been discovered and eradication efforts undertaken in more recent years.

A second example is the spotted lanternfly (SLF) (Lycorma delicatula), which was first detected in southeast Pennsylvania in autumn 2014. It is native to Asia; it is believed to have entered the country as egg masses on imported stone.

While SLF is clearly a pest of agriculture – especially grapes and tree fruits – its importance as a forest pest is still unclear. Many native forest trees appear to be hosts during the insect’s early stages, including maples, birches, hickories, dogwoods, beech, ash, walnuts, tulip tree, tupelo, sycamore, poplar, oaks, willows, sassafras, basswood, and elms. Adult lanternflies strongly prefer the widespread invasive species tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima).

As of August 2019, SLF was established in parts of five states: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. It was detected as having spread to a 14th county in Pennsylvania; five new counties in New Jersey. APHIS is working with state departments of Agriculture in these states, as well as supporting surveys in New York, North Carolina, and West Virginia (USDA APHIS DA-2019-20, August 7, 2019). Apparently the detections of a few adults – alive or dead – in Connecticut and New York had not evolved into an outbreak. See description and map here.

Imports of logs – roundwood – seem inherently risky. Certainly Dutch elm disease was introduced via this pathway. However, there have been few pest introductions linked to this pathway in recent years, probably because we import most of our unprocessed lumber from Canada. (I provide considerable data on U.S. roundwood imports in Fading Forests III here.)

Decorative items and furniture made of unprocessed wood certainly have the potential to transport significant pests (USDA APHIS 2007). Examples include boxes and baskets; wood carvings; birdhouses; artificial Christmas trees or other plants; trellises; lawn furniture. To date, apparently, no high-impact pest has been introduced via this pathway, although pests intercepted on shipments have included Cerambycids from Asia, e.g., velvet longhorned beetle and here.

Alarmed by high numbers of infested shipments from China, APHIS first suspended imports of such items temporarily; then adopted a regulation (finalized in March 2012 – USDA APHIS 2012).

APHIS has not taken action to prevent introductions on such items imported from other countries – although the North American Plant Protection Action adopted a regional standard making the case for such action and outlining a risk-based approach (NAPPO RSPM#38).

Snails on Shipping Containers

Snails have been detected on shipping containers and wood packaging for decades. In 2015, APHIS stepped up its efforts to address this risk through bilateral negotiations with Italy and launching regional and international efforts to develop guidance for ensuring pest-free status of shipping containers (Wendy Beltz, APHIS, presentation to National Plant Board, 2018 annual meeting).

SPREAD WITHIN THE UNITED STATES

Major pathways for human-assisted spread of pests within the country are sales of plants for planting, movement of unprocessed wood – especially firewood, and hitchhiking on transport vehicles. Since most forest pests are not subject to federal quarantine, any regulatory programs aimed at preventing spread depend on cooperation among the 50 states. None of these pathways is regulated adequately to prevent pests’ spread. See Chapter 5 of Fading Forests III here.

And since neither federal nor state agencies do significant enforcement of existing regulations, preventing spread often depends upon pest awareness of, and voluntary compliance by, individuals and companies.

Even pests subject to a federal quarantine are not prevented from spreading. Plants exposed to the sudden oak death pathogen were shipped to 18 states in spring 2019.

SOD-infected rhododendron plant; Indiana Department of Natural Resources

A collaborative effort by the nursery industry, APHIS, and states (Systems Approach to Nursery Certification, or SANC) is striving to close gaps linked to the standard practice of inspecting plants at the time of shipping, but full implementation of this voluntary program is still years away.

Transport of firewood has been responsible for movement of pests both short distances, e.g., goldspotted oak borer in southern California; and long distances – e.g., emerald ash borer to Colorado. APHIS attempted to develop a certification program but the industry was unable to put one together (see Chapter 5 of Fading Forests III). Current federal and state regulations of firewood are tied to the emerald ash borer quarantine, which APHIS has proposed to terminate. Wood for turning and woodworking has also been linked to movement of pests, e.g., walnut twig beetle/thousand cankers disease from the west to Pennsylvania.

emerald ash borer

Truck transport of a variety of goods has transported European gypsy moths from the infested areas in the east to the west coast. Transport of stone probably moved spotted lanternfly from southeastern Pennsylvania to Winchester, Virginia.

SOURCES

Aukema, J.E., D.G. McCullough, B. Von Holle, A.M. Liebhold, K. Britton, & S.J. Frankel. 2010. Historical Accumulation of Nonindigenous Forest Pests in the Continental United States. Bioscience. December 2010 / Vol. 60 No. 11

Brasier, C.M. 2008. The biosecurity threat to the UK and global environment from international trade in plants.  Plant Pathology (2008) 57, 792-808

Bray, A.M., L.S. Bauer, T.M. Poland, R.A. Haack, A.I. Cognato, J.J. Smith. 2011. Genetic analysis of emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) populations in Asia and North America. Biol. Invasions (2011) 13:2869-2887

Gibbon, A. 1992. “Asian Gypsy Moth Jumps Ship to United States.” Science. Vol. 235. January 31, 1992.

Guo, Q., S. Feib, K.M. Potter, A.M. Liebhold, and J. Wenf. 2019. Tree diversity regulates forest pest invasion. PNAS. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1821039116

Haack R. A. and J.F. Cavey. 1997. Insects Intercepted on Wood Articles at United States Ports-of-Entry and Two Recent Introductions: Anoplophora glabripennis and Tomicus piniperda. In press in International forest insect workshop proceedings, 18 – 21 August 1997, Pucon, Chile. Corporacion National Forestal, Santiago, Chile.

Haack, R.A., F. Herard, J. Sun, J.J. Turgeon. 2010. Managing Invasive Populations of Asian Longhorned Beetle and Citrus Longhorned Beetle:A Worldwide Perspective. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 2010. 55:521-46.

Haack, R.A. and R.J. Rabaglia. 2013. Exotic Bark and Ambrosia Beetles in the USA: Potential and Current Invaders. CAB International 2013. Potential Invasive Pests of Agricultural Crops (ed. J. Peña) 

Haack R.A., Britton K.O., Brockerhoff, E.G., Cavey, J.F., Garrett., L.J., 2014. Effectiveness of the International Phytosanitary Standard ISPM No. 15 on Reducing Wood Borer Infestation Rates in Wood Packaging Material Entering the United States. PLoS ONE 9(5): e96611. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0096611

Haack, R.A., F. H´erard, J. Sun, and J.J. Turgeon. 2010. Managing Invasive Populations of Asian Longhorned Beetle and Citrus Longhorned Beetle: A Worldwide Perspective. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 2010. 55:521–46

Harriger, K. Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, presentation to the Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases, November 2017.

Jung T, Orlikowski  L, Henricot B, et al. 2016. Widespread Phytophthora infestations in European nurseries put forest, semi-natural and horticultural ecosystems at high risk of Phytophthora diseases. Forest Pathology 46: 134–163.

Liebhold, A.M., E.G. Brockerhoff,  L.J. Garrett, J.L.Parke, and K.O Britton. 2012. Live plant inports: the major pathway for forest insect and  pathogen invasions of the US. Frontiers in Ecology.

Lovett, G.M.,  M. Weiss, A.M. Liebhold, T.P. Holmes, B. Leung,  K.F. Lambert, D.A. Orwig, F.T. Campbell, J. Rosenthal, D.G. McCullough, R. Wildova, M.P. Ayers, C.D. Canham, D.R. Foster, S.L. LaDeau, and T. Weldy. 2016.  Non-native forest insects and pathogens in the United States: Impacts and  policy options. Eological Applications, 26(5) pp. 1437-1455.

Meissner, H., A. Lemay, C. Bertone, K. Schwartzburg, L. Ferguson, and L. Newton. 2009. EVALUATION OF PATHWAYS FOR EXOTIC PLANT PEST MOVEMENT INTO AND WITHIN THE GREATER CARIBBEAN REGION. Caribbean Invasive Species Working Group (CISWG) and Plant Epidemiology and Risk Analysis Laboratory (PERAL) / CPHST. June 4, 2009

Morin, R. presentation at Northeastern Forest Pest Council 81st Annual Meeting, March 12 – 14, 2019,  West Chester, Pennsylvania

Nadel, N., S. Myers, J. Molongoski, Y. Wu, S. Linafelter, A. Ray S. Krishnankutty, and A. Taylor. 2016. Identificantion of Port Interceptions in Wood Packaging Material: Cumulative Progress Report, April 2012 – August 2016

North American Plant Protection Organization Regional Standard for Phytosanitary Measures#24 https://www.nappo.org/english/products/regional-standards/regional-phytosanitary-standards-rspms/rspm-24/

North American Plant Protection Organization Regional Standard for Phytosanitary Measures#38 https://www.nappo.org/english/products/regional-standards/regional-phytosanitary-standards-rspms/rspm-38/

Rabaglia, R.J., A.I. Cognato, E. R. Hoebeke, C.W. Johnson, J.R. LaBonte, M.E. Carter, and J.J. Vlach. 2019. Early Detection and Rapid Response. A Ten-Year Summary of the USDA Forest Service Program of Surveillance for Non-Native Bark and Ambrosia Beetles. American Entomologist Volume 65, Number 1 

Roy, B.A., H.M. Alexander, J. Davidson, F.T. Campbell, J.J. Burdon, R. Sniezko, and C. Brasier.  2014. Frontiers in Ecology 12(8): 457-465

Seebens et. al. 2017. No saturation in the accumulation of alien species world wide. Nature Communications. January 2017 http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14435

U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization International Plant Protection Convention. 2012. International Standards for Phytosanitary Meaures No. 36 Integrated Measures for Plants for planting. Rome. Online at https://www.ippc.int/  Accessed December 7, 2012.

United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Forest Service, 2000. Pest Risk Assessment for Importation of Solid Wood Packing Materials into the United States.

United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 2009. Proposed Rule Importation of plants for planting: establishing a category of plants for planting not authorized for importation pending pest risk assessment. Federal Register 74(140): 36403-36414 July 23, 2009.

United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 7 CFR Parts 318, 319, 330, 340, 360, and 361. Federal Register Rules and Regulations Vol. 83, No. 53. Monday, March 19, 2018

United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. 2014. Asian gypsy moth pest alert https://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/plant_health/content/printable_version/fs_phasiangm.pdf and pers. comm.

United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 2007. Pests and mitigations for manufactured wood décor and craft products from China for importation into the United States. Revision 6. July.

United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. 2012. Importation of wooden handicrafts from China. Final rule. Federal Register 77(41): 12437-12444. March 1. Online at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-03-01/pdf/2012-4962.pdf. Accessed August 2, 2013.

United States Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics Freight Facts and Figures

https://www.bts.dot.gov/sites/bts.dot.gov/files/docs/FFF_2017.pdf  accessed 19/8/13

United States Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, U.S. Waterborne Foreign Container Trade by U.S. Customs Ports (2000 – 2017) Imports in Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) – Loaded Containers Only

at https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/freight_analysis/nat_freight_stats/docs/06factsfigures/fig2_9.htm

Williams, L.H. and J.P. La Fage. 1979. Quarantine of Insects Infesting Wood in International Commerce. in J.A. Rudinksy, ed. Forest Insect Survey and Control Fourth Edition 1979

Wu,Y., N.F. Trepanowski, J.J. Molongoski, P.F. Reagel, S.W. Lingafelter, H. Nadel1, S.W. Myers & A.M. Ray. 2017. Identification of wood-boring beetles (Cerambycidae and Buprestidae) intercepted in trade-associated solid wood packaging material using DNA barcoding and morphology  Scientific Reports 7:40316

30 years of Analyzing Forest Pest Issues

dead whitebark pine in Crater Lake National Park
photo by F.T. Campbell

I began studying and writing about the threat to North America’s forests from non-native insects and pathogens in the early 1990s – nearly 30 years ago. I reported my analyses of the evolving threat in the three “Fading Forests” reports – coauthored by Scott Schlarbaum – in 1994, 2003, and 2014. These reports are available here.

So what has changed over those 30 years? What remains the same? Why have both the changes and the stasis occurred? What can we do to fix the gaps, close unaddressed pathways, strengthen flabby policies? I will address these issues in this and following blogs.

experimental American chestnut planted in Fairfax County, VA
photo by F.T. Campbell

What has changed since the early 1990s:

  • Adoption and implementation of significant new international and national regulations and programs aimed at preventing introductions of non-native invasive species.
  • Despite the welter of new regulations, an alarming increase in numbers of highly damaging forest pests established in the country.  (By my count, about 50 new species have established on the continent, six on Pacific islands; see details below.)
  • Alarming spread of established pests to new geographic regions and new hosts (e.g., emerald ash borer in 35 states and 5 provinces; laurel wilt disease across the range of redbay and swamp bay; rapid ‘ōhi‘a death on three of the main Hawaiian islands).
  • Introductions via unexpected pathways and vectors far removed from phytosanitary agencies’ usual targets, e.g., ship superstructures, imported steel and stone …

What has remained the same since the early 1990s:

  • Inadequate resources provided to response and recovery efforts.
  • Available funding focused on only a few of the more than 90 species causing damage.
  • Adoption of insufficiently protective regulations that have failed to prevent introduction and spread of tree-killing pests.
  • Lengthy delays in implementing programs that tighten controls – another factor in continuing introductions and spread.
  • Continued importance of expected pathways – nursery stock and raw wood, especially crates, pallets, and other forms of wood packaging.
  • Federal and state agencies still choose not to take action on pests e.g., goldspotted oak borer, polyphagous and Kuroshio shothole borers, beech leaf disease.
  • Inadequate coordination despite several efforts to set priorities.
  • Spurts of attention by media and political decision-makers, contrasted by lengthy periods of inattention.
  • Failure of most stakeholders to support efforts to prevent and respond to introductions of tree-killing pests. 

Details: The Situations Then and Now

(Many of the individual species mentioned here are described more fully here.  Full citations of sources are at the end of blog.)

American elm on the National Mall, Washington, D.C.

photo by USDA Agricultural Research Service

In 1993:

  • The number of non-native forest pest species established in the U.S. was estimated at between 300 (Millers et al. 1993) and 380 (Mattson et al., 1994; Liebhold et al., 1995) .
  • The area suffering the greatest numbers and impacts was the Northeast.
  • Several highly damaging pests that had been established for decades, including chestnut blight, white pine blister rust, Port-Orford-cedar root disease, Dutch elm disease, hemlock woolly adelgid, butternut canker, and dogwood anthracnose were receiving some attention but continued to spread.
  • USDA Forest Service funding for management of exotic pest infestations was crisis-oriented, with “… priorities … set under political pressures for immediate answers, with too much regard for short-term problems and too little consideration for broader management objectives.” (NAS 1975)
  • Since few high-profile pests had been introduced in recent years, APHIS was not actively engaged. In FY92, APHIS spent $20 million on efforts to eradicate the Asian gypsy moth. The narrow focus is illustrated by the fact that in FY93, more than two-thirds of all USDA tree pest control funds were devoted to efforts to suppress or eradicate the European gypsy moth (See FFI).
  • Concern about possible new introductions had grown; it focused on proposals to import unprocessed wood from Siberia, New Zealand, and Chile. The USDA Forest Service, academic scientists, and therefore APHIS emphasized the risks of known Asian pests, e.g., Asian gypsy moth, to western coniferous forests (See FFI). While individual scientists had expressed concern about wood packaging material, there was little public discussion of this threat.
  • We would learn later that several of the most damaging pests were already present in the country but not yet recognized – Asian longhorned beetle, sudden oak death pathogen, probably emerald ash borer.

beech leaf disease

photo by John Pogacnik

In 2019:

  • Numbers of non-native insects and pathogens attacking trees in North America approach 500 species.  (In Fading Forests III, I calculated that by the first decade of the 21st Century, the number had risen to at least 475. Several more have been detected since 2014. More than 181 exotic insects that feed on woody plants had established in Canada. (Source: USDA APHIS. 2000. Wood packaging risk assessment.)
  • Of these, 91 are considered “serious” threats (Guo et al. 2019). This estimate excludes pests native to portions of North America that are causing severe damage in naïve hosts – e.g., goldspotted oak borer; pests of palms; and pests attacking trees on U.S. Pacific and Caribbean islands.
  • Introductions had continued.
    • Between 1980 and 2016, at least 30 non-native species of wood- or bark-boring insects (Scolytinae / Scolytidae) were newly detected in the U.S. (Haack and Rabaglia 2013; Rabaglia et al.  2019). A few of these are highly damaging, e.g. redbay ambrosia beetle, polyphagous and Kuroshio shothole borers.
    • In addition to these 30 new pests, other highly damaging tree-killing pests probably introduced since the 1980s include (on the continent):
      • Eight Cerambycids such as Asian longhorned beetle (Wu et al. 2017)
      • 7 Agrilus, including emerald ash borer and soapberry borer; plus goldspotted oak borer transported from Arizona to California (Digirolomo et al. 2019; R. Haack, pers. comm.)
      • Sirex woodwasp
      • Pests of palm trees, e.g., red palm mite, red palm weevil, South American palm weevil
      • Spotted lanternfly
      • Beech leaf disease
    • Also not included in the above estimate and lists are tree-killing pests on America’s Pacific Islands :
      • ‘ōhi‘a rust
      • Cycad scale
      • Cycad blue betterfly
      • Erythrina gall wasp
      • two Ceratocystis pathogens that cause rapid ‘ōhi‘a death
      • Coconut rhinoceros beetle
    • Authorities also carried out approximately 25 eradication programs targetting introductions of the Asian gypsy moth (USDA Pest Alert Asian Gypsy Moth plus additional outbreaks since 2014).
  • Impacts of exacerbated tree mortality rates linked to these introduced pests are seen across wide swaths of the country, and affect widespread species, genera, and families. 
dead redbay in Claxton, Georgia
photo by Scott Cameron

I will discuss the risk of continuing new introductions in a separate blog.

Trying to Develop the Big Picture and Set Priorities

In recent years, USDA Forest Service scientists have made several attempts to provide nation-wide assessments of the impact of these pests and criteria for establishing priorities.

The National Insect and Disease Forest Risk Assessment predicted the loss of basal area to various pests over the 15-year time period 2012 – 2027. The assessment predicted the following losses for specific species: 90% for redbay; 60% for whitebark pine; more than 40% for limber pine; 24% for tanoak; 11% for coast live oak; 6% for eastern and Carolina hemlock; 27% for eight species of ash; 20% for American elm; 19% for red oak; 18% for American beech (Krist et al. 2014).

A separate group of scientists found that, nation-wide, non-native forest pests are causing an approximate 5% increase in total mortality by tree volume (Randy Morin at NEFPC). For details on Dr. Morin’s findings, see my blog here.

A third approach to developing a nation-wide picture, Project CAPTURE, (and my blog here) utilized FIA data to develop priorities for conservation action. Fifteen species were placed in the highest priority category, including Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia), American chestnut and Allegheny and Ozark chinquapins, redbay, five species of ash, two species of hemlock, Port-Orford cedar, tanoak, and butternut (Potter et al. 2019(b).

According to Project CAPTURE, the non-native pests affecting the largest number of hosts are the European gypsy moth, which attacks 65 hosts; and oak wilt (Bretziella fagacearum), which infects 61 hosts. The Asian longhorned beetle attacks 43 hosts (Potter et al. 2019(b).

I note that several other non-native pests also have high numbers of host species. In the Project CAPTURE study, these pests are ranked lower because the project limited its evaluation to the five agents with the greatest effect on any particular host. Thus, of the 18 native tree species that host one or both of the invasive shothole borers and associated Fusarium disease complex (PSHB website), the project included only six. Of the 22 tree species listed by APHIS as hosts of Phytophtora ramorum, the project included 12 (K. Potter, pers. comm. April 17, 2019).

SOD-killed tanoak on the Big Sur peninsula, California
photo by Matteo Garbelotto, University of California Berkeley

More extensive discussions of non-native pests’ impacts are provided in Lovett et al. 2006, Lovett et al. 2016, and Potter et al. 2019. A book-length discussion of invasive species impacts – ranging from feral hogs to invasive plants, is expected in December; look for Poland et al. (in press).

SOURCES

Aukema, J.E., D.G. McCullough, B. Von Holle, A.M. Liebhold, K. Britton, & S.J. Frankel. 2010. Historical Accumulation of Nonindigenous Forest Pests in the Continental United States. Bioscience. December 2010 / Vol. 60 No. 11

Digirolomo, M.F., E. Jendek, V.V. Grebennikov, O. Nakladal. 2019. First North American record of an unnamed West Palaearctic Agrilus (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) infesting European beech (Fagus sylvatica) in New York City, USA. European Journal of Entomology. Eur. J. Entomol. 116: 244-252, 2019

Guo, Q., S. Fei, K.M. Potter, A.M. Liebhold, and J. Wenf. 2019. Tree diversity regulates forest pest invasion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1821039116

Haack, R.A. and R.J. Rabaglia. 2013. Exotic Bark and Ambrosia Beetles in the USA: Potential and Current Invaders. CAB International 2013. Potential Invasive Pests of Agricultural Crops (ed. J. Peña) 

Krist, F.J. Jr., J.R. Ellenwood, M.E. Woods, A. J. McMahan, J.P. Cowardin, D.E. Ryerson, F.J. Sapio, M.O. Zweifler, S.A. Romero 2014. National Insect and Disease Forest Risk Assessment. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team FHTET-14-01

Leung, B., M.R. Springborn, J.A. Turner, E.G. Brockerhoff. 2014. Pathway-level risk analysis: the net present value of an invasive species policy in the US. The Ecological Society of America. Frontiers of Ecology.org

Liebhold, A. M., W. L. MacDonald, D. Bergdahl, and V. C. Mastro.  1995.  Invasion by exotic forest pests:  a threat to forest ecosystems.  Forest Sci., Monograph 30. 49 pp.

Lovett, G.M., C.D. Canham, M.A. Arthur, K.C. Weathers, and R.D. Fitzhugh. Forest Ecosystem Responses to Exotic Pests and Pathogens in Eastern North America. BioScience Vol. 56 No. 5 (May 2006)

Lovett, G.M., M. Weiss, A.M. Liebhold, T.P. Holmes,  B. Leung, K.F. Lambert, D.A. Orwig, F.T. Campbell, J. Rosenthal, D.G. McCullough, R. Wildova, M.P. Ayres, C.D. Canham, D.R. Foster, SL. Ladeau, and T. Weldy. 2016. NIS forest insects and pathogens in the US: Impacts and policy options. Ecological Applications, 26(5), 2016, pp. 1437–1455

Mattson, W. J., P. Niemela, I. Millers, and Y. Ingauazo.  1994. Immigrant phytophagous insects on woody plants in the United States and Canada: an annotated list.  USDA For. Ser. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-169, 27 pp.

Millers, I. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Entomologist, Forest Health Protection Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry. Durham, NH. Personal communication to F.T. Campbell, 1993.

Morin, R. presentation at Northeastern Forest Pest Council 81st Annual Meeting, March 12 – 14, 2019,  West Chester, Pennsylvania

National Academy of Sciences. 1975. Forest Pest Control. Washington, D.C.

Poland, T.M., Patel-Weynand, T., Finch, D., Miniat, C. F., and Lopez, V. (Eds) (2019), Invasive Species in Forests and Grasslands of the United States: A Comprehensive Science Synthesis for the United States Forest Sector.  Springer Verlag. (in press).

Polyphagous shothole borer website https://ucanr.edu/sites/pshb/overview/About_PSHB/

Potter, K.M., M.E. Escanferla, R.M. Jetton, and G. Man. 2019. Important Insect and Disease Threats to US Tree Species and Geographic Patterns of Their Potential Impacts. Forests 2019, 10, 304.

Potter, K.M., Escanferla, M.E., Jetton, R.M., Man, G., Crane, B.S. 2019. Prioritizing the conservation needs of US tree spp: Evaluating vulnerability to forest insect and disease threats, Global Ecology and Conservation (2019), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/

Rabaglia, R.J., A.I. Cognato, E. R. Hoebeke, C.W. Johnson, J.R. LaBonte, M.E. Carter, and J.J. Vlach. 2019. Early Detection and Rapid Response. A Ten-Year Summary of the USDA Forest Service Program of Surveillance for Non-Native Bark and Ambrosia Beetles. American Entomologist Volume 65, Number 1 

USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. 2014. Asian gypsy moth pest alert https://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/plant_health/content/printable_version/fs_phasiangm.pdf and pers. comm.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.  2009.  Risk analysis for the movement of wood packaging material (WPM) from Canada into the US.

Wu,Y., N.F. Trepanowski, J.J. Molongoski, P.F. Reagel, S.W. Lingafelter, H. Nadel1, S.W. Myers & A.M. Ray. 2017. Identification of wood-boring beetles (Cerambycidae and Buprestidae) intercepted in trade-associated solid wood packaging material using DNA barcoding and morphology  Scientific Reports 7:40316

Updates: SOD-infested Plants Shipped Widely; Possible Detections of Beech Leaf Disease in Connecticut and New York

rhododendron infected by P. ramorum;
photo by Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Sudden oak death (SOD) (Phytophthora ramorum)

As I reported in June, Indiana officials had detected the pathogen that attacks more than 100 plant species and that causes sudden oak death in shipments of rhododendron plants from two nurseries in Washington State and British Columbia.

After an unexplained delay, USDA APHIS finally issued an official statement  (reported on here) on the situation. Shipments of potentially infected plants already had been sent to 18 states — Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Through “trace forward” inspections, eight of those states have confirmed that their plant retailers received infected plants — Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Washington.

Plants that test positive for P. ramorum are being destroyed. All plants that have been kept within a two meter radius of an infected plant are also being destroyed. Host plants outside the two meter radius will be sampled intensively.

In addition, several major retailers have agreed to initiate a voluntary recall of plants from their stores.

APHIS advises people in these eighteen states who have bought a rhododendron from a retail outlet to monitor the plant for signs of disease, including leaf spots and shoot dieback. (APHIS provides no reference to a reliable on-line source of information on symptoms.) If people suspect their plant(s) might have the disease, they are advised to contact their local state department of agriculture or a county extension office.

Meanwhile, states are taking steps to inform their citizens. I described the rapid and extensive effort in Indiana in my earlier blog.   In Kansas, the Department of Agriculture announced the presence of the pathogen on rhododendron containerized plants on June 7. As in Indiana, most of the plants were being sold by Walmart stores; also one by Home Depot.

In Illinois, state officials announced the pathogen’s presence on July 2nd. Infected plants were detected at ten Walmarts and at one Hy Vee. Walmart and Rural King are participating in voluntary recalls.

It is unlikely that all the infected plants have been or will be detected and destroyed according to protocols. First, some plants had undoubtedly been sold to people who remain unaware of the issue.  Second, other plants were destroyed before they could be inspected by authorities. For example, Virginia authorities told me that the “original suspect plants” at a retail store had been destroyed before they arrived. As a result, authorities cannot know whether infected plants entered the state.

So, is this response adequate? Who will continue outreach to possible purchasers of the plants? Who will enhance monitoring of native vegetation in vulnerable areas, e.g., the Ozarks of Missouri (see the risk maps on pages 86-88 of Fading Forests III, available here

The Washington State nursery was operating under the program adopted by Federal Order in 2014 and formalized by the regulatory change last year. Because the Washington state nursery had not previously been detected to have infested plants, it was subject only to the standard state phytosanitary inspections with no special attention to possible sources of Phytophthora ramorum inoculum (on plants, in soil or water, in pots that have been used previously, …). Clearly this system was insufficient in this case – as it had been 15 years ago.  I do not know what regulations governed the British Columbia nursery or whether plants from BC are inspected more closely by APHIS when they are imported.

I repeat – what lessons will APHIS learn from this disturbing event, and how will it adjust its program? Will the states – 18 of which had to carry out expensive trace-forward programs – demand a more rigorous program?

Beech leaf disease (BLD)

beech leaves with symptoms;
photo by John Pogacnik, Cleveland Metroparks

In January I posted a blog about beech leaf disease. In May and June, two people commented, raising the question of whether BLD was killing trees on their properties in Connecticut.  Connecticut’s authorities have visited at least one of these sites, but I have heard nothing about their findings. Photographs from the first site, however, greatly worried Ohio’s experts.

More recently, a person in Westchester County, NY (which borders Connecticut) also raised the alarm. I don’t know whether New York authorities (some of whom have viewed symptomatic trees in western New York and Ohio) have checked this site.

Although these reports have not yet been verified by authorities, I think it would be wise for people throughout the range of American beech – or who have bought European beech trees in recent years from Ohio nurseries – to closely monitor their trees and report any suspicious findings to state authorities.

Posted by Faith Campbell

We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.

Forest Protection Legislation! Plus two champions recognized

As CISP President, I have been working with forest conservationists from across the country to gain Congressional support for programs which would fund programs to explore breeding resistance into pest-decimated tree species. Last year, I focused on amending the Farm Bill – but those efforts had disappointing results.

Representative Peter Welch

So I am very pleased to inform you that our principal champion, Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, has introduced a new, improved! version of his bill to support (1) APHIS tree pest management programs; (2) research into resistance breeding;  and (3) putting the results of such research to work in growing and planting resistant tree seedlings.

That bill – H.R. 3244 – can be read here https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr3244/text

Rep. Welch’s bill: 

·         Expands the APHIS’ access to emergency funding to combat invasive species when existing federal funds are insufficient and broadens the range of actives that these funds can support;

·         Establishes a grant program to support institutions focused on researching methods to restore native tree species that have been severely damaged by invasive pests; and

·         Authorizes funding to implement promising research findings on how to protect native tree species.

In introducing the bill, Rep. Welch referenced the emerald ash borer. Rest assured that the legislation is not limited to any specific pest; any native tree species suffering high levels of mortality due to non-native pests are eligible.

Please ask your Representative to cosponsor HR. 3244.  Ask your Senators to sponsor a companion bill in the Senate.

Awards Presented to Two Key Forest Pest Combatants

Left to right: Enrico Bonello, Faith Campbell, John Kabashima

The Reduce Risk from Invasive Species Coalition (RRISC) website has recognized the important contribution to combatting forest pest incursions.

John Kabashima received the 2019 Outstanding Volunteer Award for his years of effort to build a coalition that persuaded California phytosanitary agencies to address the polyphagous and Kuroshio shot hole borers. John, who had recently retired from the state university extension service, volunteered in 2016 to try to persuade the California Department of Food and Agriculture to address the shot hole borers. Steps to success included organizing an “Invasive Species Summit” in January 2018 to develop consensus recommendations; working with the staffs of two members of the state Assembly to develop legislation that provided funding for invasive species management, with $5 million allocated to the shot hole borers. The process of identifying specific actions involved dozens of people who have been working on the borers – in the absence of state funding or engagement – over the same period. 

Pierluigi (Enrico) Bonello of The Ohio State won the award for Outstanding Innovation for his work developing a chemical process that allows rapid identification of trees that are resistant to introduced pathogens. His initial work focused on coast live oaks resistant to the sudden oak death pathogen. Colleagues have also used the technique in Europe to identify ash trees resistant to ash dieback caused by Hymenoscyphus fraxineus.

RRISC has posted more information about these and the additional award recipients here

Posted by Faith Campbell

We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.

Feral Hogs: Report Warns, “Spreading Fast, Act Early”

feral hogs in Missouri; photo by Missouri Department of Conservation

A new report by several experts confirms fears that the feral pig threat is widespread and re-emphasizes the value of taking action early. (I have blogged several times about efforts to manage damaged caused by feral hogs – see here and here.  

Lewis et al. (full reference at end of blog) used two national-scale data sets to estimate historical, current, and future potential population size of wild pigs in the U.S. from 1982 to 2016.

They found that both wild pig distribution and abundance have nearly tripled over this period (from ~2.4 to 6.9 million). If no effective action is taken and pigs spread to all available habitat, the U.S. wild pig population could reach ~21.4 million at some unspecified future date. This would represent a 210% increase above the 2016 population; or a 784% increase above the 1982 population.

The authors cite successful control of wild pigs in Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, and Nebraska as evidence of the value of early detection and rapid response.

Lewis et al. provide brief summaries of economic and ecological damage caused by feral hogs. They damage a wide range of ecological communities, especially riparian areas, grasslands, and deciduous forests. Biological diversity is hurt through habitat destruction, direct predation, and competition for resources. In addition, wild pigs can host a suite of viruses, bacteria, and parasites, many of which can be transmitted to other wildlife, humans, and livestock.

The report notes that much of the recent spread of pigs has been caused by widespread and illegal releases of wild animals for sport hunting. Other contributing factors are land-use patterns, because hogs do well in agricultural areas. Warmer winter temperatures and increased forest mast production are also to blame – both related to climate-change

Wild pigs can persist in a range of environments, including cold northern climates, arid regions, and mixed forests. That is, all regions of the continental U.S. The vast majority of states – especially in the West, North, and East – could see major expansions in wild pig populations if animals are allowed to become established over currently unoccupied habitat.

While states that have had large established wild pig populations – e.g., Texas, California, and Florida – will not see major expansions, damage is already severe and widespread. Texas alone has an estimated 2.5 million feral hogs!

Preventing the alarming expansion of feral hog populations outlined above, Lewis et al. call for adoption and implementation of proactive management. The priority is to quickly identify and eradicate populations that invade unoccupied habitat. This applies particularly to those states which currently have low populations of feral hogs.

The same approach can be applied within states. Officials can use one data set to identify areas where wild pigs are currently absent and the predicted population density data to designate priority areas to counter spread. Such efforts should include public education and outreach, regulatory enforcement, and surveillance.

Lewis et al. note that implementation of the proposed strategy will require a coordinated effort among federal, state, and local governments and the public. They call especially for state regulations classifying feral hogs as an invasive and harmful species supported by action to halt pig translocation for the purposes of recreational sport hunting.

The authors promised that the findings of the study would be applied by the National Feral Swine Damage Management Program, which is led by USDA APHIS. One of the “tactics” to achieve Objective 2.4 in the APHIS Strategic Plan for 2019-2023 says the agency will “expand feral swine damage management for agricultural, livestock, property, ecological and human health and safety purposes.”  Still, states will find it challenging to take any actions opposed by hunters.

At the end of June 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a $75 million program called the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program (FSCP). (This works out to about $15 million per year.) The program is a joint effort by the  Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and APHIS. It was established by the 2018 Farm Bill. Additional information is available at the program webpage.  

The webpage describes how to apply for funding for projects lasting up to three years. The pilot projects will consist broadly of three coordinated components: 1) feral swine removal by APHIS; 2) restoration efforts supported by NRCS; and 3) assistance to producers for feral swine control provided through partnership agreements with non-federal partners. 


The initial funding will target specific locations in the South that have experienced recent increases in wild pigs (shown on the map below). The goal is to reduce the numbers of pigs (and associated damage) in those identified localized areas of the South. These “pilot” areas have been identified by the USDA Secretary as under threat from feral swine. The first round of projects – 20 projects – are targetted at a few counties in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. APHIS has determined these states and California have highest feral swine populations. 

The new program builds on successes in recent years. Funding of APHIS’ feral hog program at about $20 million per year has helped several states become “pig free”. Idaho, Iowa, Maine, New Jersey and New York are currently monitoring (using eDNA and scat dogs) to make sure that the pigs are truly gone.

   

SOURCE

Lewis, J.S., J.L. Corn, J.J. Mayer, T.R. Jordan, M.L. Farnsworth, C.L. Burdett, K.C. VerCauteren, S.J. Sweeney, R.S. Miller. 2019. Historical, current, and potential population size estimates of invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) in the United States. Biological Invasions, Vol. 21, No. 7, pp. 2373-2384.

Posted by Faith Campbell

We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.

Phytophthora ramorum spreads in nursery trade – again!

Rhodendron infected by P. ramorum
photo by Jennifer Parke, Oregon State University

It might be déjà vu all over again.

Fifteen years ago, in the spring of 2004, officials discovered that the disease called “sudden oak death” or “ramorum blight” was present on camellias at a large California nursery that shipped $30 million worth of plants interstate on an annual basis. The nursery was in southern California, far from the wetter areas of northern California where the disease is established in the wild and where regulatory efforts were focused. By the end of 2004, 176 nurseries in 21 states had received infected plants, 125 of which were linked to the California supplier.  APHIS and the affected states and nurseries had to spend millions to find and destroy infected plants and conduct intensive surveys to try to ensure this situation was not repeated. 

APHIS had begun regulating P. ramorum in nurseries in northern California and Oregon in February 2002. These regulations went through several rounds of change after the 2004 outbreak – discussed in Chapter 5 of Fading Forests III, available here.

Beginning in 2014, APHIS issued two Federal orders that relaxed some of the regulatory requirements for nurseries.

Just this past May, APHIS completed the process of integrating these changes into its formal regulations. (See my blog from May and the text of the new regulations here.)  APHIS stated in replying to comments on the rulemaking that it was confident that the new regime provided sufficient protection.

Even as APHIS was finalizing this rule change, Indiana officials discovered that rhododendron plants imported into the state were infected with Phytophthora ramorum!!

Indiana authorities reported that potentially infested plants were received at more than 70 WalMart stores and 18 Rural King stores. By the end of May, state inspectors have destroyed more than 1,500 rhododendrons and have put another 1,500 other plants on hold [source: Indianapolis Star website 29 May, 2019]

Indiana authorities also said that the same source nurseries had shipped plants to nine other states – unnamed.

In mid-June – more than a month after Indiana’s initial detection [Indianapolis Star website 23 May] – APHIS issued a statement. In an email to me, Evelia Sosa, Assistant Director of Pest Management, reported that potentially infested plants from the original suppliers were sent to 18 states! These states are Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. State officials Agriculture officials in these States are currently visiting nursery locations to sample plants received from the originating nurseries. Plants that test positive for P. ramorum will be destroyed. All plants that are within a 2 meter radius of an infected plant will also be destroyed. Host plants outside the 2 meter radius will be sampled intensively. Other hosts in the impacted facilities will be monitored for signs of the disease.

Homeowners who might have purchased infected plants are advised by APHIS to monitor them carefully for symptoms; a website is provided  — ironically (see below), it is the website of the California Oak Mortality Task Force!

Several of the states which received potentially infected plants have already been through this routine because infected plants were shipped to their nurseries in the 2004 – 2008 period. These include Alabama, North Carolina, and Texas. P. ramorum has been found multiple times in streams or ponds associated with the receiving nurseries (see my blog from May here)

There are several reasons for particular concern. First, the source nurseries were in Washington State and British Columbia. How did the inspection system fail to detect the outbreaks before the plants were shipped? Inspections now include testing of soil and standing water, not just visual inspection of plants. Second, at least some of the infected plants are rhododendrons – which are taxa well known to be vulnerable to the pathogen and the specified focus of detection efforts!

This would seem to verify concerns raised in its comments on the proposal (see the above website) by the California Oak Mortality Task Force, whose members have been studying and managing the outbreak for close to twenty years. COMTF said:

“The revised framework, in many ways, matches the rule structure present in 2004, when the pathogen was inadvertently, potentially shipped to over 1,200 nurseries in 39 states from a few nurseries in Southern California, Oregon and Washington. At that time, the APHIS P. ramorum regulation restricted shipments in the quarantine area, defined as the known infested counties in California and part of Curry Co., Oregon; however, the source nurseries were located in counties where P. ramorum was not present in wildlands. This revised framework does not adequately protect against the reality, that any nursery with host plants, anywhere, is a potential source for infested plants

How is APHIS going to respond – not just in leading efforts to detect and destroy infected plants but also to review its regulatory program? Why did APHIS wait so long to inform me – and presumably others in the public – about this most recent outbreak. (Although as of the time of posting, APHIS had not issued an announcement to the people registered on its stakeholder registry.)

It is not a surprise that APHIS is backing away from regulations. As I document in my blog here, the agency began some years ago to stress collaborative approaches rather than regulations.  But there are risks and costs associated with these decisions.

There are troubling situations applying to other forest pests that I hope to blog about soon.

Posted by Faith Campbell

We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.

Where is APHIS going?

As indicated by Strategic Plans and Annual Reports

APHIS HQ in Riverside Maryland

In recent months, APHIS has released its 2019–2023 Strategic Plan and its 2018 annual report – which outlines how well the agency is doing in achieving goals from the 2015-2018 Strategic Plan. There is lots of information in these documents – but it is often presented in ways that make understanding it difficult. Still, I will attempt to compare the APHIS’ 2015 Strategic Plan and the 2019 Plan as well as review recent annual reports to see what priorities APHIS has set and how well it is realizing them.

APHIS’ Mission

According to the APHIS website, the agency’s mission is to safeguard U.S. agricultural and natural resources against the entry, establishment, and spread of economically and environmentally significant pests and to facilitate the safe trade of agricultural products.

The 2019 Plan shortened this Mission: To safeguard the health, welfare, and value of American agriculture and natural resources.

The 2019 Plan links the Mission tightly to U.S. Department of Agriculture priorities, e.g., honesty and integrity, commitment, accountability, reliability, and responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources. There follow promises to deliver services with a customer focus, efficiency and responsiveness, and ensuring that phytosanitary protection is at a reasonable cost. There is great emphasis in the 2019 plan on understanding how agricultural businesses operate, collaborating with partners, and seeking alternatives to regulation.

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue

Goals

The 2019 Strategic Plan also amends the agency’s goals – they are much more general, less specific. The new goals emphasize program efficiency, collaborative approaches, and empowering employees. Perhaps these changes were made because the 2019 Plan covers the entire agency while the earlier (2015) Plan guided only Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ. However, I fear that the new goals reflect a much greater emphasis on non-regulatory approaches.

Contrasting Goals

The 2015 Strategic Plan’s three goals are:

1. Strengthen APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine’s (PPQ) pest exclusion system;

2. Optimize domestic pest management and eradication programs; and

3. Increase the safety of agricultural trade to expand economic opportunities in the global marketplace.

The 2019 Strategic Plan goals:

1. Deliver efficient, effective, and responsive programs.

2. Safeguard American agriculture.

3. Facilitate safe U.S. agricultural exports.

I excluded from my analysis generalized goals and objectives pertaining to employee training, empowerment, etc.

Each of the plans’ goals is supported by several objectives, and in the 2019 Plan by tactics. These are the specific actions that are to be taken – and progress measured. All the objectives and actions in the 2015 Strategic Plan are relevant to APHIS’ Plant Protection and Quarantine program, whereas only a few of the 2019 Plan are.

Will this mean that we will lose track of what is happening in important areas?

For now, I provide a summary of events and progress as reported in the annual reports from 2015 to 2018.

2015 Strategic Plan Goal 1. Strengthen PPQ’s pest exclusion system. The objectives called for addressing pest risks at the first opportunity – preferably at the point of origine; and making better use of the information the agency collects to target and reduce pest threats.

Strategic Plan Goal 2. Optimizing pest management and eradication. The objectives called for closer coordination with partners to focus combined resources on obtaining the greatest results.

Strategic Plan Goal 3: Increase the safety of agricultural trade to expand economic opportunities in the global marketplace. These objectives integrated APHIS into collaborating with foreign counterparts to promote the development and use of internationally and regionally harmonized, science-based phytosanitary measures. The purpose is to reduce barriers to trade, especially U.S. agricultural exports.

APHIS also promised to use the best available science, data, and technologies to strengthen the agency’s effectiveness and deliver results for the industries it serves.

Assessing Progress

Unfortunately, APHIS did not stick to standardized metrics in the annual reports. This lapse undermines efforts to use the reports to evaluate progress. Use of different metrics are apparent in reporting on a) numbers of pre-clearance programs, b) Asian gypsy moth detections; c) volumes of seed imported; d) amounts of illegal imports seized.

Progress on Goal 1, Objective 1: Address Risks Early

The first opportunity to counter a pest risk is offshore – before the product or crate or container even starts its journey to the U.S.

APHIS has expanded its off-shore pre-clearance programs under which shipments of fruit, vegetables, bulbs and plants are inspected overseas – so as to catch pests before the products even begin their journey. Between 2015 and 2018, the number of programs grew from 30 programs in an unspecified number of countries to programs covering 72 different types of commodities in 22 countries.

APHIS is concerned about the pest risks associated with the huge volume of ornamental plant cuttings shipped to the US. As pointed out in the 2017 report, more than half of the bedding plants sold at retail started from a cutting produced in a greenhouse located offshore – usually in a tropical or subtropical country. The high-volume imports impose a heavy burden on inspectors at APHIS’ 16 Plant Inspection Stations. APHIS already had a small program encouraging producers to follow “clean” procedures in growing plants; in 2016 it involved 17 facilities. That same year, APHIS began framing a larger program that would provide incentives to encourage production facilities voluntarily to adopt integrated pest management measures. However, a six-month test in 2017 did not demonstrate that the program brought about a statistically significant reduction in risk. So PPQ and its partners in the U.S. nursery industry agreed to repeat the pilot during the 2018–2019 shipping season and refine the voluntary certification program (2018 report).

Post-Entry Safeguards

A second line of defense is quarantine within the United States after plants are imported – so-called “post-entry quarantine”. This program allows importers to bring in small numbers of plants that pose a particularly high risk of transporting pests so that they can be incorporated into U.S. agricultural (including horticultural) production. These plants are placed in a certified quarantine facility for close observation – usually for a two-year period. Program requirements are described here. Over the years covered by these annual reports, the number of plants released from PEQ varied considerably – as high as 898 in 2017, half as many (425) in 2018, with intermediate numbers in the earlier years. The number of species has varied less – between 10 and 14, with the highest in 2017. I was unable to detect a pattern.

Results of these efforts – Numbers of pests detected

1. Detections at the Ports

CBP inspectors examining wood packaging material

The 2015 report stated that the agency had detected more new pest detections and saw higher numbers of pest outbreaks than in previous years (but it did not provide specific numbers). Subsequent reports show declines in pests detected (although we cannot evaluate the “pest approach rate” because key information is not collected) [see Appendix II of Fading Forests III, available here] In 2016, APHIS identified 162,000 pests in imported shipments; of this total, 73,700 were quarantine pests. The 2017 report said APHIS identified 143,411 pests in imported shipments; of this total, 71,158 were quarantine pests. In 2018, APHIS identified 140,822 pests; nearly half of this total were quarantine pests.

A particularly dangerous pest: Asian Gypsy Moth 

Among the detections reported are those of the Asian gypsy moth egg masses on ships from Asia.

Phytosanitary officials and conservationists have been concerned about this threat since the early 1990s. APHIS and its Canadian counterpart (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) and the two countries’ customs agencies have worked together since then to minimize the likelihood that AGM egg masses will be transported on ships or hard cargo (containers, automobiles, etc.). The most important step was the adoption by the North American Plant Protection Organization link of Regional Standard of Phytosanitary Measures (RSPM) No. 33 in 2009; it was revised in 2015 and 2017.

While the standard has apparently resulted in significant declines in arrivals of ships contaminated by egg masses, the lack of consistent reporting measures make it difficult to compare detection results from year to year. In the various reports, APHIS reports varying types of data – e.g., sometimes percentage of ships, sometimes number of ships, sometimes percentage decline in number of egg masses found on ships For example,  the 2017 report stated that the number of incoming ships with AGM egg masses had been reduced from 48 in 2014 to 0 2017. The 2018 report is confusing. In a single paragraph (p. 5) it states both that more than 98% of inspected vessels entering U.S. ports from Asia were free of AGM; and that the compliance rate hit an all-time high of 92%, a 10% increase over the previous year’s rate.

The annual reports also describe regional and international efforts to reduce the likelihood that AGM egg masses will be transported to North America. The 2016 and 2017 reports described meetings with Canada and Chile – other countries worried about AGM introductions – and with four “source” countries — China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea – to promote better compliance with vessel certification program requirements. Also, APHIS began monitoring for AGM on U.S. military bases in Japan and South Korea.

The reports also note progress in ensuring eradication of AGM outbreaks in various U.S. locations. There had been single AGM moths detected in Oklahoma in 2013 and 2014; in South Carolina in 2014 and 2015; and in Georgia in 2015. (News releases had also reported AGM egg masses on a ship in Baltimore harbor in 2013.) The 2017 report notes that after three years of negative surveys, PPQ confirmed that Oklahoma is free of the pest. The 2018 report said South Carolina and Georgia also had been declared free of AGM. Surveys continue in treated areas of Washington and Oregon, where 14 moths were found in 2015 (2017 report).

2. Pests Detected in Sea Containers

a shipping container being offloaded at Port of Long Beach, California

In 2016, PPQ initiated a collaborative exploration with Canada and the shipping and sea container industries to address pest risks associated with the movement of sea containers. The goal of the initiative is to develop container-cleaning guidelines that can be implemented on a global scale. In 2017, PPQ gave a presentation to the members of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) re: the complexity of this issue. The IPPC formed a Sea Container Task Force, which continues to work.

A specific case (which should not have been a surprise)

In 2017, APHIS was startled to learn from an importer that containers of airplane parts shipped from Italy were infested by snails. APHIS began working with both the importers and the suppliers to minimize the presence of snails. I confess to a sense of irony. Wood packaging from Italy has been a well-recognized pathway for the movement of snails since at least 1985! How could APHIS staff be surprised when snails turn up on containers? I hope APHIS’ effort to persuade Italian machinery manufacturers to clean up their loading docks and storage facilities are more successful than similar efforts in the past targetting marble quarries and tile manufacturers.

3. Pests Detected in Imports of Living Plants and Seeds.

Plant import volumes have averaged about 1.5 billion units (cuttings, whole plants, other propagative materials) per year in 2015 through 2018. (The recent import level is less than half the volume of imported plants before the Great Recession in 2008 – those imports exceeded 3.15 billion plants in 2007 – Liebhold et al. 2012; full citation at end of blog.) Reported imports of seed were sometimes in pounds, sometimes in tons (not clear whether Imperial or metric tons), and once in kilograms. So, if my math is correct, seed imports probably varied from a low of 1.39 million pounds in 2018 to a high of 3.74 million pounds in 2017. The number of shipments in which the plant units were packaged varied from a high of more than 19,000 in 2015 to a low of 17,000 in 2017. Again, I cannot detect a pattern.

The number of quarantine pests detected varied from a low of 690 in 2016 to a high of 1,173 in 2918. That last year also had the highest number of plant units imported – 1.7 billion – 100,000 to 200,000 more than in previous years. Whether these detection numbers accurately reflect the true pest approach rate via this pathway is difficult to know. A study by Liebhold et al. (2012 full citation at end of blog) found that up to 72% of infested shipments were not detected by inspectors.

Progress on Goal 1, Objective 2: Making Better Use of Information

A major thread in past analyses of APHIS programs is the poor use of data to evaluate and improve program efficacy. APHIS is trying to overcome these deficiencies (although note the use of inconsistent numbers in the annual reports).

One important focus is the on-going effort to implement risk-based sampling protocols at the Plant Inspection Stations. APHIS says its goal is to ensure that an inspector operating with 80% efficiency is able to detect any shipment with a 5% infestation level. The level of confidence that such a detection has been accurate should be 95%. Developing the sampling and inspection system has been a challenge; APHIS adjusted one aspect of it in 2018 (according to that year’s annual report). APHIS is also using statistical methods to try to estimate the pest approach rates for specific types of plant material (2017 report).

APHIS is also striving to integrate its data analysis programs with those of DHS Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). A pilot program testing risk-based sampling at four Texas border ports focuses on imported commodities rather than the accompanying wood packaging. This is unfortunate given the high levels of detection of wood packaging from Mexico that is in violation of applicable international rules in ISPM#15). [See my discussion from February 2017.]

Finally, APHIS is testing use of molecular diagnostics to detect diseases that may not be found through visual inspection – although this is still experimental in 2018 after more than two years of evaluation.

Progress on Goal 2: Optimizing Pest Management and Eradication

Remember that the objectives emphasized coordinating with and “wisely us[ing]” partners’ abilities.

Seizures of illegal imports

Again, the reporting units vary so it is hard to compare between years. In 2015 and 2016, seizures were reported in pounds of prohibited plants, plant products, meat, and meat products that had entered the country illegally. Such seizures fell from more than 290,000 pounds in 2015 to 102,000 pounds in 2016. In 2017 and 2018, seizures were reported as numbers of prohibited items and their retail value. In 2017, APHIS seized 2,347 prohibited agricultural items valued at more than $554,000 from retail stores, internet sales, and express shipment courier inspections. In 2018, seizures rose to 3,222 prohibited items valued at over $2.6 million.

011817.N.DNT.INFESTEDFURNITUREc2 — The burrowing larvae of a velvet longhorned beetle was found in rustic log furniture imported form China. State insect experts are asking people who may have purchased imported log furniture to check for inspect damage and report any findings of insects. Photo courtesy Minnesota Department of Agriculture

APHIS also sometimes recalled items – there were 24 national recalls in 2017, 28 in 2018. In 2016, PPQ’s Furniture Recall Team coordinated a nationwide consumer-level recall of imported pine furniture after customers complained that insects, later identified as brown fir longhorned beetles, were emerging from the furniture. The combined federal-state-retailer effort recovered and destroyed 83% of the purchased furniture pieces and 100 % of the furniture that remained in the warehouse. This effort won APHIS’ internal Safeguarding Award in 2016.

Pest Eradications (I include here only tree pests; the reports note success on European grape vine moth and pink bollworm.)

Annual reports noted gradual progress in eradicating Asian longhorned beetle outbreaks. As of 2016, APHIS reported eradication of 85% of the ALB-infested area in New York, 34% of the area Massachusetts, and 15% of the OH infestation. In 2018, APHIS announced eradication of ALB from two townships in Clermont County, Ohio.

In 2016 APHIS reported that it has begun focusing the emerald ash borer program on biocontrol. The agency reported releasing more than 1.2 million parasitic wasps in 20 states in what the agency called “trial releases” in 2015. By 2017 the agency released wasps in 25 states and the District of Columbia and reported detections of reproducing wasp populations in 14 states. In 2018, APHIS released more than 1 million wasps – again in 25 states; and reported recoveries of offspring in 17 states. In that last year, APHIS issued a formal proposal to end the regulatory program restricting movement of EAB vectors. In earlier blogs I explained my opposition to this proposal. See earlier blogs here and here

This proposal was adopted after APHIS implemented a new “decision framework” (see 2016 report). Presumably APHIS considers this framework to implement Goal 2,” Optimize domestic pest management and eradication programs.”  Given the controversy around the emerald ash borer proposal, however, I am skeptical that it fulfills the two objectives – coordinating with partners and using partners’ “ unique capacities … to strengthen and extend PPQ’s domestic programs.” Instead, to me, this decision reflects the agency’s eagerness to dump difficult programs onto others – in this case, state agencies and conservation organizations. For more on this “dumping” proclivity, see also “FRSMP” below.

In 2018 APHIS also reported expanding its engagement with the spotted lanternfly — which I think should have been much more vigorous earlier [see here]. APHIS said it would focus on the leading edge of the infestation in Pennsylvania, while the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture took the lead within the core infested area. APHIS also said it would assist State departments of Agriculture in Virginia, New Jersey, and Delaware, where outbreaks have been detected.

Surveys

Pest surveys are one tool for early detection of pests, so they are important to pest eradication and management. Surveys have long been collaborative efforts with the states and others, funded through the CAPS and Farm Bill programs (see below). The number of pests targeted in the surveys have crept up from 346 in 2015 to 386 in 2018. The number of quarantine pests detected varies year-to-year: 16 in 2016; 30 in 2017; 12 in 2018. According to the report, all were detected before they could cause significant damage.

APHIS has been testing use of both dogs and unmanned aircraft (drones) for surveys of tree pests. Dogs have shown promise in detecting AGM egg masses on ships, coconut rhinoceros beetle in mulch piles, and insect frass in wood packaging.

Other Initiatives

APHIS is actively pressing for widespread adoption of electronic phytosanitary certificates, which it expects to both ease processing burdens and reduce opportunities for fraud. Efforts include test exchanges of electronic certificates with a growing number of countries and development of an action plan to be presented to the International Plant Protection Convention decision-making body in 2018.

Another initiative is to develop a holistic, integrated management systems approach to reduce risks associated with international movement of seed (a very complex trade!).

Farm Bill projects

Funding for projects under the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Program (Section 10007 of the Farm Bill; now Section 7721 of the Plant Protection Act) was not reported in the 2015 or 2016 annual reports. My analysis of the program website found that $62.5 million worth of projects was funded in FY15; 58.25 million was funded in FY17. By 2018, a total of $75 million worth of projects was funded. The number of projects funded has increased as a result – from about 430 in 2015 and 2016 to 483 in 2017 and 519 in 2018.  According to my calculations, the proportion of the funding going to tree pests has averaged a little over 10% in most years. 2016 saw a spike because of spending to suppress the spotted lanternfly in Pennsylvania and to eradicate AGM outbreaks in Washington and Oregon.

Federally Recognized State Managed Phytosanitary (FRSMP) Program

In theory, the FRSMP program supports states’ efforts to prevent pests that are no longer federally regulated from entering the state’s territory. To be covered under the FRSMP Program, a pest must pose an economic or environmental risk to a state, and the state must have a program in place to eradicate, exclude or contain it. In those cases, a State may petition PPQ to list the species under the program. Between 2010 and 2018, APHIS, in collaboration with the National Plant Board, changed the regulatory status of 105 pests. I worry that at least some of these pests should continue to be the target of a federal program. My worry is exacerbated by APHIS’ plan to deregulate the emerald ash borer (described above).

Goal 3: International Coordination to Develop Science-Based Standards

The APHIS annual reports demonstrate APHIS’ active engagement with international standard-setting bodies in pursuit of its goal of pre-empting conflicts with trade partners by getting international agreement to appropriate phytosanitary measures. Since 2016, the International Plant Protection Convention has adopted 36 new international standards. The North American Plant Protection Organization adopted a new standard for using systems approaches to manage pest risks associated with the movement of forest products. APHIS assigns staff to participate on expert panels and committees, comments on draft standards, and help define the organizations’ agendas.

Forest-pest related issues addressed through one or both of these organizations include both an international and regional standard for the movement of wood products, and adoption of two new treatments for wood packaging. APHIS was also a key player in organizing two workshops aimed at improving compliance with the international wood packaging standard (ISPM#15) and another aimed at improving compliance with the ship-sanitation program intended to curtail transport of AGM egg masses. APHIS also coordinates closely with Australia, New Zealand, as well as Canada (called “the Quads”), to advance shared standard-setting priorities at the IPPC and launch key initiatives of mutual interest.

As I said at the beginning of the blog, APHIS issued a new Strategic Plan [available here] in autumn 2018. A table in Appendix A of the report provides support for some of my concerns.

Regarding APHIS’ backing away from regulatory programs and difficult pests, the table shows that 11 deregulatory actions were published in FY2017; the target for FY18 is 10, the target for FY19 is 15. Furthermore, Objective 1.3, states that APHIS will remove obstacles by ending regulations that place burdens on stakeholders but that are not supported by current science or practices. APHIS has also reinstated an internal executive regulatory management group to identify APHIS’ regulatory needs early and track them through approval.

I am even more concerned that the “performance measure” in the table in Appendix A anticipates that the percentage of high-risk pests surveyed for under the CAPS program will fall from 96% in FY17 to just 80% in FY19.

The 2019 Strategic Plan continues an earlier emphasis on science-based decisions, modernizing procedures, improving utilization of data, the need to be flexible and adjust to new situations, to work closely with partners, and to maintain leadership role in international bodies aimed at achieving protection goals while promoting safe trade. The vast majority of examples and specific actions listed in the plan pertain to animal disease issues; some actions could be interpreted as applying to both animal and plant sanitary issues. The table in Appendix A anticipates that ten new regional or international standards will be adopted in both FY2018 and FY2019.

The few plant-specific actions in the plan include the following matters that continue from previous years – but without any recognition of problems revealed in the annual reports:

• Imported plant cuttings that are produced in approved offshore facilities will be processed through a streamlined system. No mention is made that the 2017 pilot program failed to demonstrate the expected reduction of pest risk.

• By FY2019 (the current year), 60% of incoming shipments of plants will be inspected under the Risk Based Sampling (RBS) system. No mention is made of the still “in development” aspect of this system, as revealed in the 2018 and other annual reports.

• Development will continue of a new regulatory approach for seed imports based on Regulatory Framework for Seed Health (ReFreSH) (a systems approach which has been under development for several years).

• Addressing the threat of invasive pests and diseases associated with the international movement of sea containers (an international initiative begun a few years ago).

• Strengthening the North American perimeter against pest threats from outside the region.

• Preventing the sale of prohibited plant material via the internet or e-commerce.

SOURCE

Liebhold, A.M., E.G. Brockerhoff, L.J. Garrett, J.L. Parke, and K.O. Britton.  2012.  Live plant imports:  the major pathway for forest insect and pathogen invasions of the US.  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 10(3): 135-143.  Online at: http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/jrnl/2012/nrs_2012_liebhold_001.pdf.  Accessed December 7, 2012.

Posted by Faith Campbell

We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.

Timely reminder: Don’t Move Invasive Species!

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has teamed up with the North American Invasive Species Management Association and The Nature Conservancy to sponsor the first-ever national PlayCleanGo Awareness Week beginning Saturday – June 1-8. The program’s goal is to help outdoor enthusiasts understand how they can help stop the spread of invasive plants and pests—while still enjoying the great outdoors.

APHIS’ announcement suggests some helpful steps people going outdoors can take:   

  • Before moving from one location to another, clean your shoes with a brush to remove any soil, plants or seeds that might be trapped in your treads. This action will help prevent your accidentally spreading damaging microscopic organisms or invasive weeds to new areas.  
tanoaks killed by Phytophtora ramorum (sudden oak death) Big Sur, California
  • Avoid giving hitchhiking pests a free ride in your firewood by purchasing your firewood where you plan to burn it or taking only heat-treated firewood with you. Careless movement of wood can spread tree-killing beetles and other pests that can harm our forests. 
tangle of dead ash in Michigan killed by emerald ash borer
photo by Ned Siegert, USDA Forest Service
  • If you are driving, remove any visible pests, plants, soil, or egg masses from your vehicle, RV or camper. It only takes a few minutes to stop tree-killing insects and other potentially harmful plant pests from traveling with you to your next destination.  
spotted lanternfly
photo by Holly Raguza, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

  The website hprovides educational materials as well as such tools for interaction as pledges and hashtags!

Help spread the word while doing your part.

Posted by Faith Campbell

We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.

Collapse of Biodiversity – Causes and What We Can Do

frogs in California killed by chytrid fungus
photo by Rick Kyper, US Fish and Wildlife Service

I expect you have heard about the report issued on May 6 by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The executive summary is available here

Based on thousands of scientific studies, the report concludes that the biosphere, upon which humanity as a whole depends, is being altered to an unparalleled degree across all spatial scales. The trends of decline are accelerating. As many as 1 million species (75% of which are insects) are threatened with extinction, many within decades.

Humans dominate Earth: natural ecosystems have declined by 47% on average. Especially hard-hit are inland waters and freshwater ecosystems: only 13% of the wetland present in 1700 remained by 2000. Losses have continued rapidly since then.

The report lists the most important direct drivers of biodiversity decline – in descending order – as habitat loss due to changes in land and sea use; direct exploitation of organisms; climate change; pollution; and invasive species. The relative importance of each driver varies across regions.

If you have been paying attention, these conclusions are not “news”.

However, the report serves two valuable purposes. First, it provides a global overview, a compilation of all the data and trends. Second, the report ties the direct drivers to underlying causes which are in turn underpinned by societal values and behaviors. Specifically mentioned are production and consumption patterns, human population dynamics and trends, trade, technological innovations, and governance (decision making at all levels, from local to global).

The report goes to great lengths to demonstrate that biological diversity and associated ecosystem services are vital for human existence and good quality of life – especially for supporting humanity’s ability to choose alternative approaches in the face of an uncertain future. The report concludes that while more food, energy and materials than ever before are now being supplied to people, future supplies are undermined by the impact of this production and consumption on Nature’s ability to provide.   

The report also emphasizes that both the benefits and burdens associated with the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services are distributed and experienced inequitably among social groups, countries and regions. Furthermore, benefits provided to some people often come at the expense of other people, particularly the most vulnerable.  However, there are also synergies – e.g., sustainable agricultural practices enhance soil quality, thereby improving productivity and other ecosystem functions and services such as carbon sequestration and water quality regulation.

The report contains vast amounts of data on the recent explosion of human numbers and – especially – consumption – of agricultural production, fish harvests, forest products, bioenergy production … and on the associated declines in “regulating” and “non-material contributions” ecosystem services. In consequence, the report concludes, these recent gains in material contributions are often not sustainable.

While invasive species rank fifth as a causal agent of biodiversity decline globally, alien species have increased by 40% since 1980, associated with increased trade and human population dynamics and trends. The authors report that nearly 20% of Earth’s surface is at risk of bioinvasion. The rate of invasive species introduction seems higher than ever and shows no signs of slowing.

The report notes that the extinction threat is especially severe in areas of high endemism. Invasive species play a more important role as an extinction agent in many such areas, especially islands. However, some bioinvaders also have devastating effects on mainlands; the report cites the threat of the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis to nearly 400 amphibian species worldwide.

The report also mentions that the combination of species extinctions and transport of species to new ecosystems is resulting in biological communities – both managed and unmanaged — becoming more similar to each other — biotic homogenization.

The report notes that human-induced changes are creating conditions for fast biological evolution of species in all taxonomic groups. The authors recommend adopting conservation strategies designed to influence evolutionary trajectories so as to protect vulnerable species and reduce the impact of unwanted species (e.g., weeds, pests or pathogens).

The report says conservation efforts have yielded positive outcomes – but they have not been sufficient to stem the direct and indirect drivers of environmental deterioration. Since 1970, nations have adopted six treaties aimed at protection of nature and the environmental, but few of the strategic objectives and goals adopted by the treaties’ parties are being realized. One objective that is on track to partial achievement is the Aichi Biological Diversity Target that calls for identification and prioritization of invasive species. 

That might well be true – but I would not consider global efforts to manage invasive species to be a success story in any way. I have blogged often about studies showing that introductions continue unabated … and management of established bioinvaders only rarely results in measurable improvements.   [For example, see here and here.]

The report gives considerable attention to problems caused by some people’s simultaneous lack of access to material goods and bearing heavier burden from pollution and other negative results of biodiversity collapse. Extraction of living biomass (e.g. crops, fisheries) to meet the global demand is highest in developing countries whereas material consumption per capita is highest in developed countries. The report says that conservation of biodiversity must be closely linked to sustainable approaches to more equal economic development. The authors say both conservation and economic goals can be achieved – but this will require transformative changes across economic, social, political and technological factors.

One key transformation is changing people’s conception of a good life to downplay consumption and waste. Other attitudinal changes include emphasizing social norms promoting sustainability and personal responsibility for the environmental impacts of one’s consumption. Economic measures and goals need to address inequalities and integrate impacts currently considered to be “economic externalities”. The report also calls for inclusive forms of decision-making and promoting education about the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Economic instruments that promote damaging, unsustainable exploitation of biological resources (or their damage by pollution) include subsidies, financial transfers, subsidized credit, tax abatements, and commodity and industrial goods prices that hide environmental and social costs. These need to be changed.

Finally, limiting global warming to well below 2oC would have multiple co-benefits for protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services. Care must be exercised to ensure that large-scale land-based climate mitigation measures, e.g., allocating conservation lands to bioenergy crops, planting of monocultures, hydroelectric dams) do not themselves cause serious damage to biodiversity or other ecosystem services.

The threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services are most urgent in South America, Africa and parts of Asia. North America and Europe are expected to have low conversion to crops and continued reforestation.

Table SPM.1 lays out a long set of approaches to achieve sustainability and possible actions and pathways for achieving them. The list is not exhaustive, but rather illustrative, using examples from the report.

Posted by Faith Campbell

We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.