YAKIMA, Wash.-The Washington State Department of Agriculture is reporting its first substantial decline in Japanese beetle numbers after the summer trapping season.
According to the WSDA, 19,000 beetles were trapped this summer in Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties.
Despite an increase in trapping, treatment and quarantine and an overall decrease in the number of beetles they are now being reported in a wider geographic area according to the WSDA.
Japanese beetles were first detected in Grandview and Sunnyside in 2020 and are now being detected further from the “hot spot” in Grandview and in higher numbers, including five being caught in Pasco in 2023.
The WSDA plans to consider expanding both the quarantine area and the number of target treatment properties in the hopes of fully eradicating the beetles that are harmful to over 300 different crops.