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ID Tools helps agency staff to quickly identify pests, including insects, diseases, harmful weeds, and more, through an efficient, online database system. ID Tools currently includes more than 30 websites covering a vast array of pests and pests associated with specific commodities.

Non-native invasive species, such as insect pests and weeds, have a huge impact on livelihoods, food production and biodiversity around the world. Classical biological control (CBC) by the introduction of exotic biological control agents from the area of origin of an introduced pest provides a sustainable and cost-effective control method that minimises the use of pesticides. It has been practised widely for more than 100 years, with many successes.

Includes Prevention BMPs for Land Managers, Prevention BMPs for Transportation and Utility Corridors, BMPs for Protecting Wildlife When Using Herbicides, Land Manager’s Guide to Developing an Invasive Plant Management Plan, and Prevention BMPs for Central Sierra Tree Mortality Zones.

This white paper describes the strategic advantages of an EDRR approach, puts the need for such an approach in context, and provides a suite of recommendations for action at the statewide level for California.

The 2025-2030 Strategic Plan outlines a bold vision focused on science-based conservation, empowering land stewards, and advocating for strong public policies to stop the spread of invasive plants. Provides a plan summary overview, as well as the full report for a detailed breakdown of their proposed steps to achieve this vision.

The goals of the California Invasive Species Action Week (June 1-9, 2024),  are to increase public awareness of invasive species issues and promote public participation in the fight against California's invasive species and their impacts on our natural resources.

Prevention is the most effective strategy in managing invasive species. However, hundreds of invasive plants and animals have already established in California and are rapidly spreading each year. These invaders are negatively impacting our waters, our native plants and animals (some of them rare, threatened, or endangered), our agriculture, our health, our economy, and our favorite recreational places. Help us celebrate California's Invasive Species Action Week, and more importantly, help stop the spread of invasive species, by volunteering to take action.

Learn how invasive species are affecting California, with Invasive Species Action Week Lunchtime Talks. Webinars are part of California Invasive Species Action Week, organized by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. Webinars were recorded and available for viewing.

Currently, most cogongrass is controlled with herbicides, which only serve as a temporary solution. The herbicides must be reapplied every 6-12 months. ARS scientists in the U.S. and overseas are investigating biological control of cogongrass by collecting and studying insects that feed on the grass where the weed originated. These insects will be screened over many years to determine if they will be safe, and only those that cause no harm to valued plants will be released.

ARS researchers are building a “new foundation for biology,” by sequencing, cataloging, and characterizing the genomes of all of Earth’s living organisms. The ARS component of the initiative is focused on the Ag100Pest Initiative, a program that is producing genome assemblies for over 170 arthropod pests of greatest agricultural concern in the U.S.

Arthropod pests of U.S. field crops, livestock, bees, trees, rangeland and stored products as well as foreign pest species considered potential invasive threats to U.S. agriculture are included. Beyond genomes, Ag100Pest teams will develop best practices that will benefit the entire arthropod genomics community.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists have already intercepted a dozen significant and potentially destructive pests this year at various ports of entry in Florida as part of the agency's all-encompassing efforts to safeguard American agriculture.

Unknown pests pose a significant risk in agriculture due to a lack of knowledge in controlling the pests and the extent of damage they can cause to crops. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) entomologists recently classified eight pests discovered by CBP agriculture specialists in Florida as first-in-the-nation interceptions and another pest as a new species.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists throughout the United States are busy inspecting cut flower shipments ahead of Valentine’s Day in order to protect the nation from agricultural and floral pest risks.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Field Operations discovered 90 giant African land snails in a traveler’s luggage at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on June 30, 2024. The passenger had arrived from Ghana. The snails were seized and were “humanely euthanized,” the CBP says. The release says euthanizing the snails was necessary “to ensure they did not enter the ecosystem and cause havoc to U.S. agriculture.” 

A recent moth interception by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) is now considered to be the first encounter of the species since 1912.

Agriculture specialists play a vital role at our nation’s ports of entry by preventing the introduction of harmful exotic plant pests and foreign animal diseases into the United States. Learn more about how CBP agriculture specialists work in Protecting Agriculture.

National park philanthropy doesn't stop when it comes to trail and campground maintenance, science and research, or bringing inner-city youth to a park. Each year nearly $1.5 million from the National Park Foundation goes towards battling invasive species across the system.

ARS scientists in Nevada, studied ways to control cheatgrass and restore rangelands to a healthy mix of plants, which in turn reduces wildfire threats, supports wildlife, and increases sustainable grazing resources.

See also: Research and Extension - Pests Publications for more resources

A study conducted by Maryland Department of Natural Resources Biologist Dr. Joseph Love illuminates one of the biological factors that could be contributing to Chesapeake Channa’s efficient spread through Maryland’s waters. The study, published in the July 2024 edition of Northeastern Naturalist, found that the majority of female Chesapeake Channa, also known as northern snakehead, collected from the upper Chesapeake Bay carried eggs in two distinct sizes, suggesting those fish could spawn twice a year.

Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) is one of the worst invasive plants in the South. It dominates the shrub layer and often becomes the only shrub underneath trees, especially in streamside areas. But insects and spiders living in fallen leaves and leaf litter were not affected by a privet invasion in Georgia, as a recent study shows.

Choices is an online peer-reviewed magazine published by the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) for readers interested in the policy and management of agriculture, the food industry, natural resources, rural communities, and the environment