WSDA Crowdsourcing Two New Pests

The Washington State Department of Agriculture is seeking the public’s help identifying and mapping new pests to the state the Lily Leaf Beatle and the Southern Green Stink Bug.

Karla Salp said this kind of crowdsourcing initiative has been successful in other places.

“We came up with two unique pests that would be easy for people in the public to identify and thus would provide some really useful information for tracking these new pests.”

Both pests are heavy defoliators devouring blossoms and foliage, in the beatle’s case of lilies, of various flowers and plants.

Salp said for well-known pests, there’s funding available to track them, but for pests that are new to Washington that funding isn’t always there.

“The public provides a very valuable resource in monitoring where this pest is, where it’s spreading, the impact that it’s having and whether it’s something we need to address in the future.”

If you see either the lily leaf beatle or the southern green stink bug or any pest you think should be reported, go the WSDA’s website and file a reporting form and mark where the sighting happened.

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail krounce@cherrycreekradio.com.