WSDA Blog

If you live in Grandview, Sunnyside, Mabton, Wapato, or Pasco, you have a high chance of a friendly, safety-vest-clad WSDA employee knocking on your door this month – especially if you live in a Japanese beetle treatment area and have not returned your treatment consent form.

While labor intensive, visiting people to get consent is part of an intensive effort to eradicate Japanese beetle from Grandview and surrounding areas – as well a few beetles found in Pasco last year. While the treatments are free to the property owners, to receive the free treatment, the owner or resident must first give permission. If no one is at home, the team member will leave a handy treatment consent form on your door.

This boots-on-the-ground work definitely involves getting one’s steps for the day in.

“That’s one of the reasons I like this job,” Christine Ermey, WSDA Japanese beetle staff member, said. “It is like you are being paid to exercise.”

Locals will likely have already seen Japanese beetle outreach staff out and about at community events. The program employs a “we’ll come to you” approach – whether visiting a resident’s home to have consent forms signed or going to places where residents are already going.

Even after a long week of visiting resident’s homes to get consent, program staff could be found at the Japanese beetle yard waste drop-off site on a Saturday, as well as the Grandview spring cleanup free dump day. While residents were lined up waiting for their turn to drop off unwanted waste, WSDA staff visited with them about Japanese beetle, gave them the opportunity to easily give treatment consent on the spot, and educated them about the quarantine.

The hard work is paying off – thousands of residents have already signed up for treatments and treatments have been completed for many of their yards. For the average home, treatment is done within a matter of minutes. But that short amount of time protects that home’s lawn as well as local farms and the community as a whole.

Despite this success, there are still many more properties that have not yet given consent to have their lawn treated for Japanese beetles. Each property that remains untreated can become a haven for the beetles to reproduce – prolonging the time and resources needed to eradicate the beetle population. The more properties that give permission to have their yards treated, the sooner WSDA will be able to eradicate the pest.

If you’re in the treatment area and haven’t given consent yet, there is still time, but sign up as soon as possible! Treatments will continue into May. Visit agr.wa.gov/beetles to find out if you are in a treatment area and to give consent online. You can also email pest@agr.wa.gov or call 1-800-443-6684 with questions.


WSDA's 2024 Japanese beetle team: Camilo Acosta, Amanda Schloss, Karla Andrade, Sendy Manjarrez, Christine Ermey, Nicole Dacon, Itzel Perez, and Nasario Gonzalez. Not pictured: Troy Peterson and Matteo Vijarro.