What: Oregon Department of Forestry’s Invasive Species Specialist Wyatt Williams will be available for filming and interviews as he retrieves traps like the ones that found two insects new to the Pacific Northwest last year.
When: 10 to 10:45 a.m. Thursday, April 26, 2018
Where: Rooster Rock State Park east of Portland at Exit 25 off I-84
Visuals: Wyatt Williams shooting an enormous slingshot into tall trees as he retrieves the traps, looks in and collects the insects inside.
Specific directions: From Portland head east on I-84 to Exit 25 for Rooster Rock State Park. It is about 8 miles east of Troutdale. Once past the toll station at the park entrance turn left and proceed to the far (western) end of the parking lot. Wyatt Williams will be there.
Background: The Oregon Department of Forestry’s early pest detection system exists to catch potentially costly and destructive insect pests that might be invading the state. Last spring the system caught two beetles never before seen in the Northwest. Both newcomers were found in pheromone-laced traps. The traps were set up in 2016 along a 165-mile corridor along the Columbia River from near Astoria to The Dalles. On Thursday, April 26 the traps will be checked by ODF’s Invasive Species Specialist Wyatt Williams for the first time this year to see if any nasty new bugs turn up.
One of two new arrivals found last year is a metallic wood-boring beetle. It was previously found only in eastern North America. The other belongs to a group of insects known as ambrosia beetles. Native to Asia, this particular ambrosia beetle was first found in the U.S. in 1987 in Pennsylvania.
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