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CapitalPress.com
Friday, December 24, 2021
People & Places
Asian giant hornets thrust
entomologist into spotlight
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
For two years, Spichiger,
49, has been the intro-
verted but quotable scientist
informing the public about
the campaign to repel Asian
giant hornets.
He reported the mis-
steps, victories, surprises
and lucky breaks. He says he
doesn’t relish the role he’s
been thrust into, but likes
that people are listening and
on-guard.
So far, with the pub-
lic’s help, Spichiger and
colleagues, including fel-
low department entomolo-
gist Chris Looney, have found
and destroyed four nests, all
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SVEN-ERIK
SPICHIGER
Position: Washington
State Department of
Agriculture managing
entomologist
Previously: Pennsylvania
Department of Agricul-
ture managing entomol-
ogist
Education: Bachelor’s
degree in entomology,
Penn State Universi-
ty; master’s degree in
entomology, Clemson
University
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It was not astonishing to
Sven-Erik Spichiger that the
Asian giant hornet popped up
in Washington state.
Shortly before the insect,
sensationally dubbed the
“murder hornet,” was found
near the U.S.-Canadian bor-
der in 2019, the Washington
State Department of Agri-
culture printed a booklet on
“invasive pests.”
The
rogues
gallery
included Vespa mandarinia,
the world’s largest hornet.
The fearsome decapitators of
honey bees had never been
confirmed in North America.
But Spichiger, the agriculture
department’s managing ento-
mologist, was expecting them
to arrive by ship.
“The way our trade routes
are set up, I’m surprised it
didn’t happen before,” he
said.
The hornets that were
found in British Colum-
bia and northwest Washing-
ton could have been stow-
aways — or they could have
escaped.
“Asian giant hornets are
a sought-after food source,”
Spichiger said. “It’s possible
people brought them here on
purpose.
“You wonder whether
somebody tried to get a col-
ony going to enjoy them,”
said Spichiger, who was
tempted into trying raw hor-
net pupae. “It tastes like any
other insect,” he said.
Established 1928
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington State Department of Agriculture managing entomologist Sven-Erik
Spichiger holds a tray of Asian giant hornet specimens. Spichiger spearheads the
state’s response to the hornet, but it’s not the invasive insect that he calls the “pest
of a generation.”
near each other in Whatcom
County.
Spichiger said in Novem-
ber that he was hopeful the
hornets have been contained
to a small area along the bor-
der. Murder hornets, however,
remain a story of national
interest.
“We expected people to be
interested. We didn’t expect
people to be this interested
for this long,” he said. “We’re
not used to people being inter-
ested in what we do.”
Boyhood interest
Spichiger traces his inter-
est in insects to the sum-
mer he was 8 and helped his
cousin earn a Boy Scout merit
badge by collecting green
dragonflies. He never stopped
collecting.
He earned a bachelor’s
degree in entomology at Penn
State University and a mas-
ter’s degree in the same sub-
ject at Clemson University.
A Pennsylvania native,
Spichiger worked his way up
to managing entomologist at
the Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture. By 2018, he
was attending lots of meetings
and doing paperwork.
A bug crisis arose while he
was on jury duty, and his staff
handled the problem without
him. That’s when he knew it
was time for a change.
Spichiger applied, as a
lark, for an equivalent posi-
tion in Washington.
He was offered the job, so
he and his wife, Kuen Kuen,
moved west, where the moun-
tains and fish are bigger. “We
feel like we’re on vacation
every day,” he said.
Spichiger said he became
an entomologist for the “won-
drous variety.”
There’s a new infestation
of Japanese beetles to attack
next spring in Yakima County.
“Japanese beetles could be a
disaster. It could be ho-hum,”
Spichiger said.
Spotted lanternfly
There’s another insect
that Spichiger would never
describe as humdrum. He
says it “could be one of the
most harmful pests in our
generation.”
It’s the spotted lanternfly.
There’s never been a credible
sighting in Washington, but
Spichigher fought the pest in
Pennsylvania, and he expects
to do so again.
“It is coming,” he said.
In 2014, Spichiger, as
Pennsylvania’s
entomolo-
gist, checked out a report of
an unusual insect. He found
hundreds of spotted lantern-
flies on Ailanthus altimssim,
commonly known as tree of
heaven.
Spotted lanternflies pre-
fer those trees, which are
fast-growing, but they also
like grapes, apples, Christmas
trees and many other crops.
Until Spichiger saw that
tree, the insect had never
been confirmed in the U.S.
Reflecting a few years later,
Spichiger said the report
“gave us a chance.”
It was, however, the pest
that got away. “We didn’t hit
it hard enough,” Spichiger
said. “We should have nuked
the area.”
If that sounds harsh, con-
sider this: The spotted lantern-
fly infestation grew from 174
square miles in 2016 to about
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3,000 square miles in 2017,
according to the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture.
In 2018, a Pennsylvania
congressman complained the
pest was “wreaking havoc”
on agriculture in 13 coun-
ties. The USDA announced it
would spend $17.5 million to
contain the bug.
The pest continued to
spread. Penn State research-
ers in late 2019 estimated the
potential economic damage.
Worst-case, if the pest gets
established, annual losses are
projected to be $554 million.
Spotted lanternflies spread
by laying egg masses on
the surface of items that can
travel around the country. The
USDA says spotted lantern-
flies are now in 11 states, the
farthest west being Indiana.
Spichiger said he’s watch-
ing Cleveland, where spot-
ted lanternflies were found
in August. He said that he
expects that once they hit Chi-
cago, they will spread west on
rail cars.
“Once it gets here, we’re
looking at managing it, living
with it,” he said.
By contrast, the Asian
giant hornet “will never be the
pest of a generation,” he said.
“It’s just the one people are
interested in.”
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Perrydale FFA leads effort to help feed needy families
By GEOFF PARKS
For the Capital Press
PERRYDALE, Ore. —
Students are back in the thick
of the Perrydale FFA chap-
ter’s 2021 Food For All pro-
gram to help feed needy fam-
ilies with local, farm-raised
fruits and vegetables.
Food For All was origi-
nated by the Perrydale FFA 23
years ago. It typically involves
the entire 300-plus-member
student body, from kinder-
gartners to seniors, who all
come together from Novem-
ber through the end of the
year collecting, packaging
and distributing donated food.
COVID-19
restrictions
kept many of the students
from working last year. In
their stead, former Perrydale
ag adviser Kirk Hutchinson,
coordinator of the event since
its inception, enlisted stu-
dents, teachers, community
members and others.
This year, the students
were back in force. Perrydale
FFA President Jenna Tomp-
Geoff Parks/For the Capital Press
Left to right, Johnathan
Propes, 15, reporter for
the Perrrydale FFA; Rachel
Propes, 18, treasurer, and
Jenna Tompkins, 17, pres-
ident, bag root vegetables
for the annual Perrydale
FFA-hosted Food For All
program.
kins, 17, said during packag-
ing operations at the school
that kindergartners and ele-
mentary-age students are
given jobs such as bagging
onions by count and other
easier tasks.
Middle school students
sort and bag mixed vegetables
and potatoes by weight.
“All seven class periods
and 10 agriculture classes
will be packing for the next
two weeks,” Tompkins said
on Nov. 7. “As long as I’ve
been at Perrydale I’ve packed
food.”
She said Perrydale has
adjusted and taken more time
to plan ahead and imple-
ment safety protocols so stu-
dents can still contribute to
the efforts despite COVID-19
worries.
“We have to be more
mindful of the capacity in the
packing areas,” she added.
“In previous years we could
really pack them in and have
everybody working.”
High school students stack
and wrap pallets for shipment
and can do other kinds of
heavier work. Those in FFA
leadership prepare the way for
the yearly event through their
duties as “ambassadors.”
Johnathan Propes, 15,
Perrydale FFA’s reporter,
explained that Perrydale and
the other eight schools in
the district that participate
in Food For All activities —
Dallas, Dayton, Amity, Cen-
tral, Yamhill-Carlton, New-
berg, Sheridan and Willamina
— go on “partner visits” to
farmers, businesses and other
donors.
Those visits lay the
groundwork for collecting,
packaging and distributing
the food.
“We coordinate out of Per-
rydale but do the packaging
and distribution from each
of those schools to help their
local communities,” Hutchin-
son said.
The goal is to collect and
distribute food to nearly 8,000
needy families statewide with
the help of local food banks
and other charitable organi-
zations. Their goal is provid-
ing 40 pounds of mixed vege-
tables and fruit to each needy
family.
Last year nearly 190 tons
of food were distributed
despite the coronavirus dis-
ruptions. This year’s goal is
175 tons, though the final
figure will likely be higher,
Hutchinson said.
A problem for the Perry-
dale site is capacity, Tomp-
kins said.
“We’re kind of at maxi-
mum packing capacity here,”
she said. “Our schools have
only so much space. We can’t
really go over about 200 tons.
We have a new barn here but
can’t really get to it with fork-
lifts or machinery in this bad
weather.”
Rachel Propes, 18, trea-
surer of the Perrydale FFA,
said this year’s heatwave
reduced the size and quantity
of the carrot crop in the val-
ley, but larger onions, pars-
nips and rutabagas have taken
up the slack.
“Food For All gives food
to any who ask for it,” she
said. “So if there’s an orga-
nization near us (such as the
Knights of Columbus) that
asks for food, we give it to
them” to distribute.
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CALENDAR
Submit upcoming ag-related
events on www.capitalpress.com
or by email to newsroom@capital-
press.com.
FRIDAY- WEDNESDAY
JAN. 7-12
American Farm Bureau Con-
vention: Georgia World Congress
Center, 285 Andrew Young Interna-
tional Blvd., Atlanta, Ga. This is an
opportunity to help set the agenda
for the leading voice of agricul-
ture in Washington, D.C., and much
more. Participate in educational
workshops to advance your lead-
ership skills, expand your business
acumen and gain insight into the
trends and realities impacting food
production. Website: https://www.
fb.org/events/afbf-convention/
WEDNESDAY- FRIDAY
JAN. 12-14
Northwest Agricultural Show:
Oregon State Fair and Exposition
Center, 2330 17th St. NE, Salem. Join
us at the fairgrounds for an ol’ fash-
ioned farm show. We’ll also have
a full slate of exhibitors, presenta-
tions, seminars and events. Website:
https://northwestagshow.com/
SUNDAY-TUESDAY
JAN. 16-18
NFU Women’s Confer-
ence: Holiday Inn and Suites
Nashville Downtown Conven-
tion Center. Topics will include
business management, leader-
ship, community building and
more. Website: https://nfu.org/
womensconference/
TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY
JAN. 18-19
The VISION Conference
2022: Renaissance Phoenix Glen-
dale Hotel and Spa, Glendale, Ariz.
The conference engages leaders
throughout agricultural technol-
ogy to address the dynamic recent
advances in technology, systems
and platforms enabling intercon-
nected solutions from farm to retail.
Website: http://www.thevisioncon-
ference.com
WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY
JAN. 19-20
2022 Northwest Hay Expo: Three
Rivers Convention Center, Kennewick,
Wash. Sponsored by the Washington
State Hay Growers Association, this is
a one-stop information center for all
things hay. Website: www.wa-hay.org
2022 Idaho Potato Confer-
ence: Idaho State University, student
union building, Pocatello. The confer-
ence includes educational presenta-
tions and a trade show. Website: www.
uidaho.edu
SUNDAY-WEDNESDAY
JAN. 23-26
Dairy Forum 2022: J.W. Mar-
riott Desert Springs Resort & Spa,
Palm Desert, Calif. Presented by
International Dairy Foods Associa-
tion, the forum will feature what’s
new, now and next for dairy foods.
Website: www.idfa.org
THURSDAY
JAN. 27
USBI Biochar in the Woods
Seminar (online): 9 a.m.-4 p.m. At
the day-long, online seminar and
the following field day events in
Butte County, Calif. (free), you will
learn how to make and use bio-
char onsite to increase the water
holding capacity and resilience of
forest soils. Website: https://bit.
ly/3q1Ejli
Index
Markets .................................................10
Opinion ...................................................6
Correction policy
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staff and to our readers.
If you see a misstatement, omission or
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caption, please call the Capital Press news
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