APHIS

When pest detections led China to suspend exports of logs from Virginia and South Carolina last spring, USDA began work to minimize the impact of this trade disruption on one of those states’ most important industries. We began by negotiating with China to establish science-based standards to allow...

This is Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Awareness Week. Before the Memorial Day holiday and summer travel season begin, we take this time to remind everyone to be careful not to spread the EAB unintentionally. EAB is one of many “Hungry Pests” that can cause significant damage to our country’s natural...

With an estimated 40 million people moving each May, it’s no wonder this “very merry month” is recognized as National Moving Month. If you plan to move this year, please don’t make a move until you check for the gypsy moth. This invasive pest has altered the landscape in 19 States and the District...

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is celebrating the agency’s 40 th anniversary today. While APHIS’ program activities and responsibilities have grown and evolved since the Agency’s founding in 1972, the mission remains the same: serving the public by protecting the health...

The mission of USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services is to provide expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts and allow people and wildlife to coexist. During my recent trip to South Florida I toured Homestead Airbase and learned firsthand about an extremely valuable service provided by APHIS-WS that most folks...

This year I am encouraging everyone to make the Cinco de Mayo celebration a “Citrus de Mayo” affair by celebrating citrus’ role in the holiday’s food and culture. My goal is to raise awareness of the serious threat that diseases like citrus greening pose to United States citrus. From the limes and...

On April 24, USDA confirmed the nation’s 4 th case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in an animal that was sampled for the disease at a rendering facility in central California. This animal was never presented for slaughter for human consumption, so at no time presented a risk to the food...

Imagining our communities without trees is hard to fathom. Unfortunately, there is an insect that threatens the trees we love – the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB). It’s an invasive insect that feeds on certain species of hardwood trees, eventually killing them. Since its discovery in the United...

Bringing USDA expertise into a cooperative effort with the U.S. Navy and a telecommunications company recently made flying safer for hundreds of vultures and Navy aviators near Milton, Fla.

For the past several months, USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and its partners at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) have been fighting to stop the spread of the giant African snail—a nasty invasive pest that threatens Florida’s agricultural...