Regulation

The emerald ash borer is a pest of ash trees native to East Asia. It was first discovered in North America in 2002 in the Detroit, Michigan, area. Since then, it has killed millions of ash trees and caused thousands more to be removed to slow its spread.

In December 2020, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published a final rule to remove the federal domestic EAB quarantine regulations. As a result, KDA has also lifted its quarantine effective March 1^st, 2021 and instead resources will be diverted to education, outreach, survey and biocontrol.

Initially, local county-level quarantines were established to prohibit movement of ash trees and other related items, but those quarantines have been largely ineffective in preventing the spread of the pest. KDA will continue to survey and monitor for EAB, and will direct available resources toward non-regulatory options for management and containment of the pest, including collaborative efforts with industry organizations to educate communities about the threat of EAB and participation in biological control opportunities available through USDA-APHIS.

Order Rescinding Permanent EAB Quarantine

If you suspect emerald ash borer on your property and are not in one of the detected counties (see above), please call 785-564-6698 or e-mail your name, address, phone number and pictures of the suspect tree to KDA.PPWC@ks.gov.

All ash trees native to Kansas are susceptible to infestation by the emerald ash borer. Trees become infested when adult beetles lay eggs on the bark. Eggs hatch into larvae that bore into the tree, tunneling between the bark and wood, disrupting water and nutrient movement, eventually killing the tree. Emerald ash borer appears to prefer trees under stress but can kill perfectly healthy trees.

Emerald ash borer is responsible for killing or damaging 20 million ash trees in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Ontario, Canada. Financially, the United States risks an economic loss of $20 billion to $60 billion because of this pest. A complete devastation of ash trees could seriously affect our ecosystem.

Without government action and cooperation from the public, firewood dealers, arborists and the nursery industry, emerald ash borer will be introduced in Kansas. Preventing its spread to non-present counties is far more cost-effective than trying to manage it as an established pest.

Survey & Management

Read about Kansas Department of Agriculture’s emerald ash borer survey work on our Pest Surveys page.

We aid United States Department of Agriculture-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service in their efforts to establish biological control agents to help manage emerald ash borer populations in Kansas. Three parasitic biological control agents are being released in Kansas; more info on emerald ash borer biocontrol.

You Can Help

Since the emerald ash borer's initial introduction into the United States, it has been spread to many areas of the country by campers and homeowners who unknowingly moved infested firewood to un-infested areas where the beetles emerged and infested new ash trees.

You can help slow the spread of the emerald ash borer into Kansas by not moving firewood across county lines. When buying wood for your home, buy only locally grown and harvested firewood. When camping, buy your firewood near your destination and burn all that you bring. You can read more about firewood safety on our site or at Don’t Move Firewood.

Emerald ash borer educational materials, including ID cards and brochures, are available through the Kansas Department of Agriculture's Plant Protection and Weed Control program. Call us at (785) 564-6698 or e-mail your name and address to KDA.PPWC@ks.gov.

Calls us or email us too, if you think you may have found symptoms of an emerald ash borer infestation in non-quarantine counties in Kansas. If you suspect emerald ash borer symptoms on trees in quarantine counties, please call your county extension agent.

Additional Info

• A visual guide to detecting emerald ash borer damage
• Common Problems of Ash Trees
• Don’t Move Firewood
• Early Detection & Distribution Mapping System (EDDMapS)
• Emerald Ash Borer CSI: Your Ash Trees
• Emerald Ash Borer ID Guide
• Emerald ash borer ID video
• Emerald Ash Borer Information Network
• Find a certified arborist

Visit the KDA's Plant Diseases page.

You Can Help

Thousand cankers disease poses a serious threat to the health of black walnut trees, which are economically important for their nuts and lumber.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture, Kansas Forest Service and Kansas State University Research & Extension need your aid to help stop the introduction and to limit the spread of this disease in Kansas. We are deeply concerned that if it reaches the native range of black walnuts in central and eastern Kansas, we may lose this tree in our urban and native forests.

Currently, the disease is known to exist in the nearby states of Colorado and New Mexico. Colorado scientists believe that the disease was brought into its urban areas by moving infected wood either as firewood or for woodworking. Wood, bark, and chips with beetles and cankers are highly contagious and should not be moved off a site for three years. Do not bring in walnut wood from out-of-state sources. You can read more about firewood safety on our site or at Don’t Move Firewood.

Thousand Cankers Disease of walnut is a progressive disease that kills a tree within two to three years after initial infection. Trees early in the disease cycle will initially show signs of decline with symptoms of yellowing and thinning. Advanced symptoms are falling branches with leaves still attached. The tell-tale signs of the disease manifests as numerous blank cankers about the size of a dime just under the bark. Access more detailed information on the disease from Colorado State University here.

Additional Info

• Don’t Move Firewood
• ThousandCankers.com
• United States Department of Agriculture-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service

 

Firewood and its Hazards to Native and Urban Trees in Kansas

Firewood that is untreated poses a substantial pest risk to the trees of Kansas. Firewood frequently originates from a tree that has died or in decline.  Causes of tree death or decline are numerous but some are drought, excessive water and can include disease or insect pests. Wood intended for firewood from a tree which has compromised health due to an insect or a disease pathogen is problematic and a risk to spread pests to new trees and locations.

For the landowner, one of the best pest control measures is to remove the infected or diseased tree and then destroy the wood. However, many use the wood for firewood.  What happens when the wood is used for firewood and is moved either short or long distances and not burned in the short term?

Firewood, until it is burned, becomes a carrier of the pest, disease or fungus which occurred in the tree before it was cut for firewood.  A landowner or firewood dealer runs the risk of moving the pest from one location to another or infesting new trees in the immediate location where firewood stacks are located when the wood is stored or seasoned for a period of time.  When the firewood is moved from its original area, be it short or long distances, pests can rapidly move into new locations and environments that under normal, natural spread circumstances may take many years to occur, if at all.  This firewood movement can be by individuals or commercially.

In Kansas, firewood has been documented to have moved diseases and insects of oaks, elm, pines, ash and hickory to name a few.  Pine wilt (see image to the right of the insect vector - pine sawyer beetle), oak wilt, Dutch elm disease, and many borers and bark beetles have been moved farther than their natural spread by firewood.

The State of Kansas and USDA quarantines regulated wood moving into the state from out of state sources and many campgrounds restrict the use of firewood to local sources.  For more information please refer to the following webpages concerning Thousand Cankers of Walnut, Pine Wilt, and Emerald Ash Borer and their risk to moving pests.  When camping, contact the campground for firewood restrictions before hauling firewood on your trip.

Guidelines for Buying and Harvesting Firewood

1. Buy or harvest locally.When you buy or harvest firewood from trees of local origin, then you reduce the risk of introducing a new pest into your neighborhood woodlands. Local origin is often defined as being within twenty to thirty miles.
2. Season wood at or near the site of harvest. Some wood such as oak may take a year to two years to season. This provides a lot of time for insects or fungus spores to migrate out of the wood into nearby woodlands. To avoid moving pests, season near the site of harvest but away from specialty trees of higher value. Seasoning wood directly on bare ground increases the chance of termite infestation and something to be avoided.
3. If you are buying firewood that is commercially sold, look for wood carrying a USDA emblem or state sticker/declaration regarding kiln drying or removed bark. Both treatments reduce the risk for movement of pests.
4. Trees with mushrooms, galls, darkened discoloration of the bark or wood, borer holes, or trees such as elms, oaks and pines that suddenly die are at a higher risk for moving pests. The wood from these trees should be avoided and when cut should be burned as soon as possible in an outside burn pile (check local regulations regarding burning and burn permits). Chipping or burying wood are other methods for disposal of these trees susceptible to higher pest risks. If intended for firewood, do not move the wood from the local area.
5. If moving to a new residence outside of your local area, leave the firewood at the old residence. The new residents will appreciate it.

Asian longhorned beetle is an invasive longhorned beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) that are 0.75–1.25 inches long with a glossy jet-black body and mottled with white spots. The long antennae are 1.5–2.5 times the body length with distinctive white bands at the base of each article. The tarsi and antennae may have a bluish tinge.

Asian longhorned beetle is native to East Asia and their larvae are destructive feeders of a diversity of trees that are popular urban landscape trees, and trees common and important to the native ecosystems. Adults are poor dispersers, so it is unlikely they will enter Kansas naturally. As with many wood-boring insects, the most likely means of spread is human mediated such as by the movement of wood products (e.g. wood pallets) and firewood. You can read more about at Don’t Move Firewood.

Asian longhorned beetle is continuously on the radar of Kansas Department of Agriculture. Additionally, we ask that citizens are aware of this invasive pest and keep a lookout for this beetle. In Kansas, Asian longhorned beetle is commonly mistaken with cottonwood borer. If you suspect an Asian longhorned beetle citing, please submit a photo to KDA.PPWC@ks.gov.

Additional Info:

• United States Department of Agriculture-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service
• Center for Invasive Species Research

    
Insect Report 2019 Volume 66 Issue 2

 

For information see Kansas Department of Agriculture Entomological News Volume 66, Issue 3

See the Kansas Department of Agriculture Entomological News Volume 67, Issue 2

Red imported fire ant is an invasive species of fire ant (Solenopsis) with a long history in the United States and originally from South America. This invasive species is detrimental to native ecosystems by wiping out the native soil-based insect fauna and being pestiferous in anthropogenic settings.

Red imported fire ants, similar to other native Solenopsis have two-segmented pedicels, mandibles with four teeth, worker size polymorphism, ten-segmented antennae with a two-segmented club. Unlike native Solenopsis which are typically smaller and cryptic, red imported fire ant nests are larger and conspicuous. Nests are typically barren open mounds in sandy soils. Unfortunately, it is difficult to identify red imported fire ants on site unless familiar but can be readily identified by kicking a nest’s mound surface and identifying a boiling-out of workers, and/or by the minute subdermal pustules that form after a worker’s sting.

Red imported fire ant is continuously on the radar of Kansas Department of Agriculture. Additionally, we ask that citizens are aware of this invasive pest and keep a lookout for this invasive ant. In Kansas, red imported fire ant is often mistaken with other native ant species: big headed ants (Pheidole spp.), Neivamyrmex army ants, spine-wasted ants (Aphaenogaster spp.). The only way to definitively identify a red imported fire ant, physical specimens are paramount: if you suspect a red imported fire ant, please submit as many specimens as possible to Kansas Department of Agriculture, C/O Plant Protection and Weed Control, 1320 Research Park Dr., Manhattan, KS 66502.

Spongy moths get their name from the spongy, orange-tan egg masses they produce. In this photo, a female spongy moth is resting among a few clusters of eggs.

Spongy moth* is a group of moths that are highly polyphagous and destructive as larvae. The larvae feed on hundreds of species of plants, but oak is their preferred host. Oak trees support over 2,000 species, making the spongy moth a serious threat to existing ecosystems. The most notable species of spongy moth is the European spongy moth (Lymantria dispar dispar), which was accidentally introduced into the United States in 1869 by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, an amateur entomologist who sought to develop a novel silk industry. Due to the poor mobility of adult females, a relatively effective European spongy moth quarantine has been implemented in the northeastern United States, along the Atlantic coast, and around the Great Lakes. However, due to the tendency of females to lay cryptic egg masses on various structures, such as vehicles and outdoor equipment, the likelihood of egg masses getting transported outside of the quarantine area still exists.

Interactive European spongy moth quarantine maps are made available by the United States Forest Service and United States Department of Agriculture-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service.

Other subspecies of spongy moth, including the Asian and Japanese spongy moths (L. dispar asiatica and L. dispar japonica), pose an even bigger threat to the United States. These subspecies feed on a greater number of plant species, and the adult females exhibit higher mobility compared to the European spongy moth. Due to strict regulation and inspection standards, these moths have been successfully intercepted and eradicated at North American shipping ports. No known populations exist in the United States.

In conjunction with the United States Department of Agriculture-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), the Kansas Department of Agriculture has been conducting annual spongy moth surveys in areas of interest—or areas that experience high interstate traffic—using pheromone-baited traps. Currently, no known populations of spongy moth exist in the state.

While surveying in 2022, Kansas Department of Agriculture detected two male European spongy moths in Johnson County. 2023 surveying will outline the extent of the pest in this area.

For more information, visit:

Don’t Move Firewood

USDA National Invasive Species Information Center

*Spongy moth became the new common name for Lymantria dispar in 2022. For more information on the name change, click here. While “gypsy moth” can still be seen in past surveys and reports, “spongy moth” will be used in future communications.

Recently, a specimen of dead spotted lanternfly was externally reported from western Kansas and shared with Kansas Department of Agriculture.

Spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is a relatively recently introduced invasive fulgorid planthopper originally from parts of Asia. Like related insects (think aphids), they use their piercing sucking mouthparts to feed on plant phloem, or sap. Sugar rich but nitrogen poor sap requires spotted lanternfly (SLF) to feed on large quantities, resulting in production of honeydew (sugary “urine”) as a byproduct, resulting in sooty mold buildup which can inhibit photosynthesis in afflicted plants.

The issue with SLF is their wide host range which spans over 70 species of woody plants, but they are particularly partial to tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), which is believed to be linked to acquiring toxic alkaloids as a deterrent against potential predators. It is further believed that their distinctively showy red underwings are flashed as a warning to predators of their distasteful bodily toxins that are acquired from tree of heaven.

Outside of tree of heaven, SLF is fond of grapes and various fruit trees, making them problematic for Kansas vineyards and orchards, but also includes many woody ornamentals. For these reasons, Kansas Department of Agriculture, along with our diverse federal and state collaborating agencies have taken the reporting of SLF in western Kansas extremely seriously.

As an immediate response, Kansas Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with Kansas Forest Service conducted a follow up survey for SLF at the original site of detection.A follow-up survey in 2022 yielded zero detections. Another survey for spotted lanternfly is planned for 2023.

Currently there is no indication there is an established population of SLF in Kansas, and it is important to understand and recognize that the information at hand is a single already dead SLF specimen was reported to the Kansas Department of Agriculture. Predictive models have concluded SLF will spread slowly if left alone, but they have an uncanny habit of hitching rides on vehicles, either as individuals or egg masses that females will lay on various surfaces, which may be a potential source for long-distance transport. As we stand, Kansas Department of Agriculture has no plan to enact any regulatory mandate regarding the pest for any entities in the state of Kansas.

Although there is no evidence of establishment, Kansas Department of Agriculture is taking SLF very seriously. If you think you have seen spotted lanternfly we ask that you either submit an image or specimen to Kansas Department of Agriculture. It is crucial we have a visual source to confirm an ID and we are thankful for your cooperation. We have recently received several images that have turned out to be moths, so it is helpful to know that if the insect you have has hairs or scales on its wings (fuzzy-like), it is not SLF. SLF will have membranous, plastic-like wings, similar to a cicada or grasshopper.

 For more information on SLF please visit: aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/pests-diseases/hungry-pests/the-threat/spotted-lanternfly/spotted-lanternfly or other resources provided by credible state agencies or higher education entities.

For information on Walnut twig beetle see the plant diseases page under Thousand Canker Disease of Walnut.

The box tree moth is an invasive pest native to East Asia. The moth was first detected in the United States in Niagara County, New York in July of 2021. It is thought that the moth came into the U.S. from a nearby infestation in Canada. The box tree moth was confirmed in Lenawee County, Michigan (November 2022) and most recently in Hamilton County, Ohio (June 2023).

The box tree moth poses a significant threat to boxwood (Buxus spp.)—a popular ornamental landscaping shrub. The caterpillars feed on the boxwood leaves. When there are no more leaves, the caterpillars will feed on the bark, causing girdling of the branches. If left unchecked, the insect can kill the entire plant.

Common signs of box tree moth infestation include chewed, missing, or yellowing leaves and white webbing. The caterpillars are green with yellow, white, and black stripes. They have black spots along the body and a black head. Adult moths have a light and dark color form; some moths will have white wings with a brown border, while others have wings that are all brown. Both color forms have small, white “commas” in the middle of their forewings that help differentiate the moth from similar-looking species.

The moth spreads primarily through infested nursery stock. Check boxwood plants before purchasing and report any signs of box tree moth infestation to KDA.PPWC@ks.gov.

For more information on both tree moth, visit:

USDA-APHIS: Box Tree Moth
Michigan Invasive Species Program
Michigan State University Extension

Box tree moth caterpillar and webbing


Box tree moth adult, light form.



Box tree moth adult, dark form.


Box tree moth caterpillars and light feeding damage

Visit KDA's Pest Survey page to see what we are doing.

Brown marmorated stink bug is a relatively recently established invasive pest in Kansas. First identified in Kansas in 2011. Subsequently, brown marmorated stink bug has steadily spread in eastern Kansas.

Brown marmorated stink bug is a polyphagous stink bug that is particularly injurious to fruits and has already begun to cause economic damage to orchards in eastern Kansas, especially in organic operations. Additionally, brown marmorated stink bug can become a nuisance to homes due to their tendency to aggregate in homes and structures in winter.

Brown marmorated stink bug can be distinguished from other native stink bugs by the distinctive white banding of the antennae and abdominal margins.

Kansas Department of Agriculture has been conducting an annual survey for brown marmorated stink bug since 2018 using species-specific pheromone baited traps.

See Regulation, Quarantine, and Management section for more information

Spotted wing drosophila is a relatively recently introduced invasive pest. Spotted wing drosophila was first detected in the United States in 2008, and in Kansas in 2013.

Spotted wing drosophila is a pest of fruits, particularly various berries, into which females lay their eggs and larvae develop. Timing applications is crucial to effective management. Therefore, it is important to understand their seasonal lifecycle in Kansas production settings.