Two USDA agencies lead efforts to protect U.S. wildland, rural, and urban forests from non-native insects and disease-causing pathogens:
- USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has legal responsibility for preventing introduction of tree-killing pests, detecting newly introduced pests, and initiating eradication and containment programs intended to minimize the damage they cause.
- USDA Forest Service (USFS)
- Forest Health Management (FHM) program assists partner agencies to counter pests where they are first found – usually near cities – and when they spread. This work falls primarily to the Cooperative component of Forest Health Management program. The Federal lands component helps the USFS, National Park Service, and other federal agencies counter pests that have spread to more rural/wildland areas.
- Research and Development (R&D) program supports research into pest-host relationships, introduction & spread pathways, management strategies (including biocontrol) and host resistance breeding
Since 2010, several new tree-killing pests have been detected in the US, including polyphagous and Kuroshio shot hole borers, spotted lanternfly, two rapid ʻōhiʻa death pathogens, and Mediterranean oak beetle. Over the same period. the Asian longhorned beetle has been detected in two new states – Ohio and South Carolina; the emerald ash borer expanded its range from 14 to 35 states; laurel wilt disease spread from five states to 11; a second strain of the sudden oak death fungus appeared in Oregon and California forests; and whitebark pine has been proposed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for listing as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. (I have blogged often about policy failures that have contributed to these introductions; today I am focused on agencies’ ability to respond.)
Funding agencies’ essential programs has fallen behind these calamities. APHIS funding has been steady or has risen slowly – at least not dropping – but not enough to deal with the growing threat.
Meanwhile, the key USFS programs have been cut by half or more. In 2010, USFS FHP and Research, together, allocated $32 million to efforts to understand and manage a dozen introduced pests: Asian longhorned beetle, emerald ash borer, sudden oak death, hemlock woolly adelgid, goldspotted oak borer, laurel wilt, thousand cankers disease, European gypsy moth, Port-Orford cedar root disease, Sirex woodwasp, and white pine blister rust (especially on whitebark pine). By 2021, this total had fallen to about $10 million. There was no indication that any USFS R&D funding has been allocated to recently detected, highly damaging pests, i.e., rapid ʻōhiʻa death, the polyphagous and Kuroshio shot hole borers, Mediterranean oak beetle, or beech leaf disease. USFS FHP has funded work on some of these pests through its “emerging pest” fund – but that fund is limited to $500,000 for the entire country.
At present, more than 228 tree species growing in the “lower 48” states are infested by an exotic pest. The 15 most damaging of the introduced species threaten 41.1% of the total live forest biomass in the 48 conterminous states. Additional trees on the Hawaiian and other Pacific islands are also being killed by non-native insects and pathogens. Non-native forest pests have caused a 5% increase in total mortality by tree volume nation-wide. The greatest increases in mortality rates have been a four-fold increase for redbay; and a three-fold increase each for ash, beech, and hemlock.
Introductions of tree-killing pests occur because we import things! The highly damaging wood-borers can arrive in crates, pallets, and other forms of packaging made of wood. Other pests – especially plant diseases – come here on imported plants. Gypsy moth and spotted lanternfly egg masses can be attached to virtually any hard surface, e.g., steel slabs, vehicles, stone, containers, or ship superstructures.
Imports from Asia pose a particularly high risk – illustrated by the Asian longhorned beetle, emerald ash borer, polyphagous and Kuroshio shot hole borers, sudden oak death, and spotted lanternfly.
U.S. imports from Asia rose almost a third between 2019 and 2020. No part of the country is safe. While nearly half of imports from Asia enter via Los Angeles/Long Beach, California, another 21% entered via New York – New Jersey and Savannah. Other ports in the “Top 10” were the Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma, Oakland, Norfolk, Houston, Charleston, Baltimore, and Mobile.
Pests don’t stay in the cities where they first arrive. Instead, they proliferate and spread to other vulnerable trees – often assisted by people moving firewood, plants or household goods. For example, less than 20 years after their first detections, the emerald ash borer has spread to 35 states, the redbay ambrosia beetle to 11.
[For more information, read my earlier blogs posted here or species-specific descriptions here.]
Please contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to push for increased funding for key programs managed by these two agencies. I describe funding needs below. I list members of the appropriate Congressional subcommittees at the end of this blog.
USDA APHIS programs (all included under “Plant Protection and Quarantine”)
| APHIS Program | FY 2020 (millions) | FY 2021 (millions) | FY 2022 ask |
| Tree & Wood Pest | $60.000 | $60.456 | $70 million |
| Specialty Crops | $192.000 | $196.553 | $200 million |
| Pest Detection | $27.446 | $27.733 | $30 million |
| Methods Development | $20.686 | $20.844 | $25 million |
APHIS’ “Tree & Wood Pests” account has traditionally supported eradication and control efforts targeting only three insects: the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB), emerald ash borer (EAB), and gypsy moth. The program to eradicate the ALB has received about two-thirds of the funds — $40 million. There is encouraging progress in Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio. Clearly, this program must be maintained until final success is achieved. Plus the program must now counter the Charleston, South Carolina, outbreak, where more than 4,000 infested trees have been detected in an area of 58 square miles. (See my blog here, which describes the difficult conditions arising from wetlands in South Carolina.)
APHIS has terminated its emerald ash borer regulatory program, which had previously been funded at about $7 million per year. (See my blog). APHIS has said it will now focus on production and release of biocontrol agents, although it has not indicated the funding level. It is probable that EAB will now spread more rapidly to the mountain and Pacific Coast states, threatening both riparian woodlands and urban forests.
APHIS’ “Specialty Crops” program funds APHIS’ regulation of nursery operations to prevent spread of the sudden oak death pathogen. APHIS must improve that program to avoid a repetition of the 2019 incident, in which plants infected by the SOD pathogen were shipped to 14 states.
This budget line also supports efforts to manage the spotted lanternfly, which has spread from Pennsylvania to seven other mid-Atlantic states.
The “Pest Detection” budget line supports the collaborative state –federal program that detects newly introduced pests. Successful eradication and containment programs depend on early detection.
The “Methods Development” program assists APHIS in developing detection and eradication tools essential for an effective response to new pests.
USDA Forest Service
| USFS PROGRAM | FY20 | FY21 | FY 22 ask |
| FHP Coop Lands | $32 M | $30.747M | $51 million (to cover both program work & personnel costs) |
| FHP Federal lands | $19 M | $15.485M | $25 million (ditto) |
| Research & Develop | $305 million | $258.7 million; of which about $3.6 million allocated to invasive species | $320 million; seek report language specifying $5 million for invasive species |
The Mission of the USDA Forest Service is “To sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.” To achieve this mission, the Forest Service needs adequate funding to address the difficult challenge of containing the spread of introduced pests, protecting host tree species from mortality caused by those pests, and restoring decimated tree species to the forest. Meeting this challenge requires gaining scientific understanding of the pest’s and host’s biology and what motivates people to avoid activities that facilitate pests’ spread (e.g., transporting firewood that might harbor wood-boring insects).
Given the hundreds of damaging non-native pests, the Forest Service must set priorities. One attempt to do so is “Project CAPTURE” (Conservation Assessment and Prioritization of Forest Trees Under Risk of Extirpation). Priority species for forests on the continent are listed below. A separate study is under way for forests in Hawai`i, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
- Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia)
- American chestnut (Castanea dentata)
- Allegheny chinquapin (C. pumila)
- Ozark chinquapin (C. pumila var. ozarkensis)
- redbay (Persea borbonia)
- Carolina ash (Fraxinus caroliniana)
- pumpkin ash (F. profunda)
- Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana)
- Port-Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana)
- tanoak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus)
- butternut (Juglans cinerea)
- eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)
- white ash (Fraxinus americana)
- black ash (F. nigra)
- green ash (F. pennsylvanica).
These 15 priority species should be the focus of both comprehensive gene conservation programs and tree breeding and restoration programs. Unfortunately, USFS programs do not reflect this recommendation.
Forest Health and Management Programs (FHM)
Despite severe cuts (see above), FHM has continued its commitment to projects addressing Port-Orford-cedar root disease, threats to whitebark pine, and thousand cankers disease; plus it is support for managing “lingering” ash which appear to survive EAB attack. However, I am concerned about past reductions in programs targetting laurel wilt and sudden oak death. And as I noted above, several highly-damaging pests lack a “program” at all. I applaud establishment of an “emerging pest” line. However, competition will be fierce for the $500,000 – pitting the invasive shot hole borers in California against the coconut rhinoceros beetle and rapid ‘ōhi‘a death in Hawai`i, against beech leaf disease in Ohio to Massachusetts.
And where is federal leadership on managing continued spread of the emerald ash borer, now that the USDA APHIS has terminated its regulatory program?
USDA Forest Service Forest and Rangeland Research Program
Effective programs to prevent, suppress, and eradicate non-native pests depend on understanding of the pest-host relationship gained through research. In recent years, about 1.5% of the USFS Research budget has been allocated to the non-native pests listed above. Past reductions have hit programs targetting hemlock woolly adelgid, white pine blister rust, sudden oak death, and the Sirex woodwasp. Programs targetting several other high-impact pests, including the Asian longhorned beetle, emerald ash borer, goldspotted oak borer, thousand cankers disease, and laurel wilt have been funded at a steady rate. I could find no documentation of USDA Forest Service research into beech leaf disease, rapid ʻōhiʻa death, or other pests currently killing trees.
Members of Key Congressional Committees
Note that some Representatives or Senators are members of subcommittees that fund both APHIS and the USFS. It is especially important that they hear from their constituents!
APHIS is funded through the Agriculture appropriations bill. Members of the House Subcommittee on Agriculture and Rural Development:
- Sanford Bishop Jr., Chairman GA
- Chellie Pingree ME
- Mark Pocan WI
- Lauren Underwood IL
- Barbara Lee CA
- Betty McCollum MN
- Debbie Wasserman Schultz FL
- Henry Cuellar TX
- Grace Meng NY
- Jeff Fortenberry, Ranking Member NE
- Robert Aderholt AL
- Andy Harris MD
- David Valadao CA
- John Moolenaar MI
- Dan Newhouse WA
Members of the Senate Subcommittee on Agriculture and Rural Development:
- Tammy Baldwin, Chair WI
- John Merkley OR
- Dianne Feinstein CA
- Jon Tester MT
- Patrick Leahy VT
- Brian Schatz HI
- Martin Heinrich NM
- Ranking Republican John Hoeven ND
- Mitch McConnell KY
- Susan Collins ME
- Roy Blunt MO
- Jerry Moran KS
- Cindy Hyde-Smith MS
- Mike Braun IN
The USFS is funded through the Interior appropriations bill. Members of the House Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies: add states
- Chellie Pingree, Chair ME
- Betty McCollum MN
- Derek Kilmer WA
- Josh Harder CA
- Susie Lee NV
- Marcy Kaptur OH
- Matt Cartwright PA
- David Joyce, Ranking Member NC
- Mike Simpson ID
- Chris Stewart UT
- Mark Amodei NV
Members of the Senate Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies:
- Jeff Merkley, chair OR
- Dianne Feinstein CA
- Patrick Leahy VT
- Jack Reed RI
- Jon Tester MT
- Chris van Hollen MD
- Martin Heinrich NM
- Ranking Rep. Lisa Murkowski AK
- Roy Blunt MO
- Mitch McConnell KY
- Shelly Moore Capito WV
- Cindy Hyde-Smith MS
- Bill Hagerty TN
- Marco Rubio FL
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.
For a detailed discussion of the policies and practices that have allowed these pests to enter and spread – and that do not promote effective restoration strategies – review the Fading Forests report at http://treeimprovement.utk.edu/FadingForests.htm