Our insect pest survey looks for target pests that we believe are or will soon be in New York and the Northeast. Early detection is critical to pest management decision-making. Working with the New York State Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS), the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and USDA-APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine, we screened pest-trap catches for targeted pests.

The introduction and establishment of foreign plant pests in the United States could cost agriculture and taxpayers millions of dollars in lost revenues, control costs, and prevention of environmental degradation. In 2006 we conducted a large survey for the woodwasp Sirex noctilio, which can kill pine trees, to help delineate its presence in New York and surrounding states. Samples were sent to our lab for sorting and identification.

We screened 2,197 trap samples, plus one additional sample collected from logs, for Sirex noctilio woodwasps. We found 54 positive samples from 20 New York counties for 2006. This brings to 25 the number of counties where woodwasps have been found in New York. With this information, regulatory agencies will make decisions on future trapping and what, if any, quarantine action is needed.

Once surveys delineate the extent of a pest situation, state and federal risk and management guidelines are developed. In New York, state regulatory agencies and cooperators have drafted protocols for the Sirex woodwasp, and federal agencies have also developed draft protocols and risk analysis statements. Depending on regulations, in-state and out-of-state trade may be affected. http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dlf/privland/forprot/health/protocols.html

• Kennoth Carnes (NYSDAM)
• E. Richard Hoebeke (Entomology)
• Ethan Angell (NYSDAM)
• Darryl Jewett (USDA APHIS PPQ)
• Jerry Carlson (NYS DEC)