Resource Search

If you are moving this year from a location within the gypsy moth quarantine area to a location outside the quarantine area, please inspect outdoor household items for pests. This is a federal requirement for homeowners moving from gypsy moth quarantine areas.

By complying with the law, you may also save a forest. Gypsy moths are destructive, invasive pests! European gypsy moth larvae feed on over 300 plant species including oak, aspen and elm. Gypsy moths have defoliated more than 83 million acres in the United States since 1970. About 70% of susceptible forests have never been infested and are at risk.

See also: Plant Industry Pest Alerts for more pests/diseases

In an effort to monitor invasive northern snakeheads in the Chesapeake Bay and Blackwater River, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announces a new tagging program in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Both agencies are placing yellow or blue tags on up to 500 northern snakeheads. Each tagged northern snakehead caught and harvested from now until 2024 could be rewarded with a gift card of $10 or $200 depending on the tag.

In order to qualify, the harvester must report the tag number to USFWS at 800-448-8322, and is asked to take a picture of their harvested and tagged northern snakehead. Only harvested northern snakeheads with reported tags will qualify for gift cards.

ARS works with foreign scientists to prevent overseas diseases from spreading to the United States. This collaboration specifically targets research that cannot be conducted in the U.S., either because a disease does not exist here or the expertise in a pathogen resides overseas. Of particular concern are emerging diseases that may spread from animals to infect humans.

Prepared by: American Sheep Industry Association

Provides listing of Technical Guides (TGs). Various guides are relevant to pest managment and invasive species issues.

Tellus, is the new digital platform to showcase USDA, ARS's revolutionary research, which was publicly launched February 11, 2019. Tellus is Latin for earth, and its content is designed to reach our customers wherever they are—whether in the United States or across the globe, on desktop or mobile. Tellus is replacing its legacy AgResearch online magazine (includes archives from 1995-2018).

Tellus includes content covering a variety of topics from field to fork, ranging from human nutrition and food safety, to crop and animal production. In addition to informative stories about ARS research, Tellus includes new products like featured photos, infographics, photo essays and videos.

The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was a keystone tree species in the eastern U.S., once found in the forest overstory from Maine to Georgia. The loss of the "mighty giant" to chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica), a fungal disease accidentally imported from Asia in the early 1900s, reduced the once dominant chestnuts to remnant understory sprouts. After eight years of field testing, USDA Forest Service research forester Stacy Clark and her colleagues evaluated blight resistance and survival of the backcross-generation American chestnut seedlings, known as BC3F3. Their results were published in Forest Ecology and Management.

USDA NIFA research investment in Texas A&M AgriLife leads to breakthrough in fighting agricultural plant diseases. Researchers have made a discovery that will help combat fastidious pathogens, which cost U.S. agriculture alone billions of dollars annually.