NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Researchers use tiny samurai wasp to control stinkbugs
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
CORVALLIS — The
samurai wasp may be small,
but it is a mighty assassin
of one of Oregon agricul-
ture’s most detested pests
— the brown marmorated
stinkbug.
No bigger than a pin-
head, the tiny wasp lays
its eggs inside the eggs of
stinkbugs, killing the host
when they hatch. Stinkbugs
first arrived in Oregon in
2004 and are a scourge to
farmers, damaging high-
value crops including wine
grapes, blueberries, cherries
and hazelnuts.
Researchers know the
samurai wasp can be an
effective biological control
for stinkbugs. A new study
from Oregon State Uni-
versity goes a step farther,
describing how farmers can
integrate the wasp as part
of an overall management
strategy.
David Lowenstein, an
entomologist and postdoc-
toral research associate at
OSU, led the study, which
focuses on the impacts of
different insecticides on
wasp survival. His results
found that some chemi-
cals were highly lethal to
the wasp, while others were
more suitable.
The study was pub-
lished recently in the Jour-
Oregon Department of Agriculture/Chris Hedstrom
An adult samurai wasp lays eggs in a mass of brown marmorated stinkbug eggs.
nal of Economic Entomol-
ogy. Funding came from
the Oregon Hazelnut Com-
mission, Oregon Raspberry
and Blackberry Commis-
sion and the USDA Spe-
cialty Crop Research Initia-
tive, which is assisting more
than 50 researchers across
the U.S. studying ways to
defeat the stinkbug.
Like the stinkbug, the
samurai wasp is native to
east Asia. It was discovered
in 2016 in the Willamette
Valley, and since then OSU
has bred colonies of the
wasp in Corvallis and at the
North Willamette Research
and Extension Center in
Aurora to distribute to com-
mercial orchards.
“They are not available
commercially,” Lowenstein
said. “We’re the sole group
that is rearing the parasitoid
and trying to get it estab-
lished in different parts of
the state.”
However,
Lowenstein
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Mostly sunny,
breezy and nice
Becoming windier
and not as warm
Intervals of clouds
and sunshine
Pleasant with
partial sunshine
Partly sunny and
beautiful
84° 53°
74° 48°
said it does no good to dis-
tribute the wasps while
farmers are spraying certain
types of insecticides to con-
trol other pests.
For the study, Lowen-
stein tested the effects of
nine insecticides on samu-
rai wasps in lab and field tri-
als. He said neonicotinoids
and pyrethroids were “fairly
toxic” to the wasps, while
diamide insecticides were
less toxic.
One reason for this is
70° 44°
By SARAH
ZIMMERMAN
Associated Press
82° 53°
74° 49°
89° 56°
80° 52°
76° 51°
87° 59°
81° 55°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
64/51
78/51
87/50
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
85/56
Lewiston
70/51
91/56
Astoria
63/52
Pullman
Yakima 89/57
72/45
87/56
Portland
Hermiston
76/53
The Dalles 89/56
Salem
Corvallis
76/48
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
81/46
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
80/45
82/45
82/52
Ontario
93/59
Caldwell
Burns
88°
65°
80°
53°
106° (1961) 40° (1949)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
77/47
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
90/54
0.00"
Trace
0.39"
4.42"
5.02"
5.50"
WINDS (in mph)
89/56
84/45
0.00"
0.05"
0.83"
9.33"
6.33"
7.34"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 78/44
78/49
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
84/53
79/56
86°
57°
79°
52°
108° (1961) 40° (1932)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
72/50
Aberdeen
82/54
85/57
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
71/52
Today
Wed.
WSW 8-16
W 8-16
WSW 10-20
WSW 10-20
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
87/47
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:05 a.m.
8:47 p.m.
10:10 p.m.
6:17 a.m.
Last
New
First
Full
June 25
July 2
July 9
July 16
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 104° in Needles, Calif. Low 33° in Yellowstone N.P., Wyo.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Brown marmorated
stinkbug
Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org
Binomial name:
Halyomorpha halys
Appearance: Shield shaped and
dark, mottled brown
Diet: Primarily tree fruits
Life cycle: One or two generations
in cooler climates;
up to five in
warmer ones
Origin: Asia
First
observed
in U.S.:
Mid-1990s
14-17 mm
(Actual size)
Sources: Penn State Extension;
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Capital Press graphic
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
More information about
brown marmorated stink-
bugs, including reported
sightings of the pest across
Oregon, is available online.
Visit: https://agsci.oregon-
state.edu/bmsb/brown-
marmorated-stink-bug
All seven of Oregon’s public
universities will raise tuition
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
because diamide insecticides
specifically target sucking
and chewing insects, such as
filbertworm larvae in hazel-
nut trees, while neonicot-
inoids and pyrethroids are
“broad-spectrum” insecti-
cides, Lowenstein said.
“The application of this
work is that, for someone
who wants to benefit from
biological control from the
samurai wasp, first they’re
going to have to time it
around when they apply
insecticides,” he said. “We
don’t expect chemical insec-
ticide use is going to go
away. It’s just how can you
integrate them together.”
Lowenstein also sug-
gested that orchards main-
tain natural areas around
the property where samu-
rai wasps can retreat during
crop spraying.
Stinkbugs are found in
24 of Oregon’s 36 counties.
OSU has already distrib-
uted samurai wasps at 63
locations across the state for
bio-control.
The wasps are not harm-
ful to humans and do not
sting people, Lowenstein
said.
“There’s no way you are
going to confuse this with
a yellowjacket,” he said. “If
you have a samurai wasp
on your property you won’t
even know it’s there unless
you are seeing its effect,
which is less stinkbugs.”
SALEM — All seven of
Oregon’s public universi-
ties will raise tuition for the
2019-20 school year, with
officials citing increased
costs and less money than
expected from legislators.
The hikes range from
2.33% at Western Oregon
University in Monmouth to
9.9% at Ashland’s South-
ern Oregon University.
Gov. Kate Brown had
made education a priority
of this session, repeatedly
saying that she wanted to
create a “seamless sys-
tem of education from
cradle to career.” The
Democrat expressed dis-
appointment that higher
education wasn’t involved
in a $2 billion increase for
K-12 schools that legisla-
tors approved earlier this
year, and she has continued
to push the Legislature to
increase university budgets
to avoid tuition increases
higher than 5%.
Legislators
recom-
mended a two-year higher
education budget of $836.9
million.
That is $100 million
more than last biennium,
though schools like the
University of Oregon said
they needed at least $120
million more to keep tui-
tion increases below 5%.
The University of Ore-
gon, the state’s largest pub-
lic university, will raise
tuition 6.91% next school
year.
State universities can
raise tuition on their own
if it’s an increase of 5%
or less. Any tuition hike
above 5% requires a review
by the Higher Education
Coordinating Commission,
which met last week and
approved the increases.
“None of us are happy
that we will have to raise
tuition by over 5 percent
this year,” Jamie Moffitt,
vice president for finance
and administration and
chief financial officer, said
in a statement. “Unfortu-
nately, we had little choice
given the current financial
situation.”
Molly Blanchett, a
spokeswoman for the Uni-
versity of Oregon, said the
school has to address a $34
million recurring budget
gap and that they’re “fac-
ing a very challenging
budget situation” because
of declining international
enrollment and increases
in employee health care
and retirement costs.
Schools that were able
to contain tuition increases
are doing so at a major cost.
Portland State Univer-
sity was bracing for an 11%
increase in tuition, though
the school reduced that
increase to 4.97% at the
last minute, thanks in part
to the legislative increase
in funding. But the school
still has to bridge an $18.6
million shortfall next
year and is pursuing 2%
cuts across the university,
according to a statement.
Western Oregon Uni-
versity, which will have the
smallest tuition increase
among the state’s seven
universities, said it will
operate on a deficit bud-
get to avoid larger tuition
hikes.
“We know that defi-
cit budgeting is not sus-
tainable, but the universi-
ty’s mission is to provide
affordable degree path-
ways, and we met the chal-
lenge to keep tuition within
reach for our students” said
WOU President Rex Fuller.
Speaker of the House
Tina Kotek said last week
that the $100 million extra
is “a substantial invest-
ment in higher ed,” and it’s
unlikely that colleges will
see additional legislative
investment this session.
“We got as much as we
think we can get into their
system and now they’re
going to have to show us
why they can’t live with it,”
she said.
Thirty years ago, the
state paid for two-thirds of
its universities’ operating
budgets, with tuition cov-
ering the remaining third.
That ratio has now flipped
completely.
Southern Oregon Uni-
versity, which will raise
tuition by nearly 10%,
committed to automati-
cally lowering that increase
if legislators agreed to give
more money. But even
in the most optimistic of
funding scenarios, SOU
would have likely had to
raise tuition above that 5%
number because of years of
legislative disinvestment
that have forced admin-
istrators to run on deficit
budgets.
“No option available to
us would have been pain-
less,” said SOU Presi-
dent Schott in a state-
ment. “These are the best
choices for our students
and the university, as law-
makers continue to shift
the burden of higher edu-
cation from the state to our
students
and
their
families.”
The Legislature is
expected to approve the
final public university bud-
get this week.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
E AST O REGONIAN
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211
333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
EastOregonian.com
To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255
or go online to EastOregonian.com
and click on ‘Subscribe’
East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday,
Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers
Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR.
Postmaster: send address changes to
East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Copyright © 2019, EO Media Group
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
CORRECTIONS: The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely
regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
Subscriber services:
For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops
or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
EZPay
52 weeks
26 weeks
13 weeks
Local home delivery Savings (cover price)
$13/month
60 percent
$173.67
41 percent
$91.86
38 percent
$47.77
36 percent
*EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit
or debit card/check charge
Single copy price:
$1.50 Tuesday through Saturday
Circulation Dept.
800-781-3214
ADVERTISING
Regional Publisher and Revenue Director:
• Christopher Rush
541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com
Advertising Services:
• Angela Treadwell
541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com
• Grace Bubar
541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com
Multimedia Consultants:
• Jeanne Jewett
541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com
• Audra Workman
541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com
Business Office Coordinator
• Dayle Stinson
541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com
Classified & Legal Advertising
1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678
classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com
NEWS
• To submit news tips and press releases:
call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com
• To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News:
email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini
at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818.
• To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries:
email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit eastoregonian.
com/community/announcements
• To submit sports or outdoors information or tips:
541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com
Business Office Manager:
541-966-0824
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Production Manager: Mike Jensen
541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com