A Japanese Beetle was recently trapped inside a WA State Department of Ag quarantine  area, WSDA has ways people can help.

  Beetle can destroy ecosystems

The beetle can ravage plants, shrubs, flowers, even lawns. And, it has few natural predators. WSDA says increased trapping efforts have been added in SE WA.

According to  WSDA:

"WSDA is placing and monitoring traps from Yakima to the Tri-Cities. Most traps will be in and around Wapato, Sunnyside, Grandview, Mabton, and Pasco. WSDA also traps in and around licensed nurseries to check for Japanese beetles. WSDA plans to monitor 5,000 traps throughout the area."

They also passed along the following information:

PLANT SALES

"As you shop for plants and garden this season, be careful to not transport new pests, including Japanese beetle. When the beetle is young, it lives as a larva or grub in soil. This means the pest can travel in soil of potted plants. If you purchase plants in the quarantine area do not move them outside of the quarantine boundary."

Update from Oregon

"For the 2023 season Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) successfully trapped 6,399 Japanese beetles, which is over a 35% reduction in overall beetles caught in 2022. From the 2022 and 2023 treatments, there was a 47% reduction of the treatment boundary. While ODA has made significant progress towards eradicating Japanese beetle in Oregon, several more years of treatments will be needed to meet that goal.

Update from Idaho

At this point in the 2024 season Idaho State Department of Agriculture, ISDA, has 697 delimiting traps across northeast Caldwell, Idaho. There has not been a detection yet. They will continue to monitor traps once a week until temperatures start to drop later this fall."