Idaho In Action / Regulated and Invasive Insect Pest/ Additional Info

Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program Plant Protection Act 7721 (Farm Bill)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) provides funding through the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program (PPDMDPP) and the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN) Programs under the authority of the Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721.

Under the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program, APHIS funds projects organized around specific goal areas that represent critical needs and opportunities to prevent, detect, and mitigate invasive pests and diseases. The six strategic goal areas include:    

•   Enhancing plant pest and disease analysis and survey

• Targeting domestic inspection activities at vulnerable points in the safeguarding continuum

• Enhancing and strengthening pest identification and technology

• Safeguarding nursery production

• Enhancing mitigation and rapid response capabilities

• Conducting targeted outreach and education

USDA APHIS HONEY BEE PESTS AND DISEASES SURVEY

The National Honey Bee Survey, in conjunction with the Bee Informed Partnership (BIP) and the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), is a comprehensive examination of colony health throughout apiaries in the United States. 

The NHBS began in 2009 to address the emerging concern about the diminishing health of honey bee colonies.  This survey takes an epidemiological approach to document honey bee diseases, pests and pathogens already present in the U.S.  Additionally this survey has a monitoring attribute that tests for the presence or absence of potentially new invasive threats to honey bee colony health, specifically Tropilaelaps clareae, Apis cerana and Slow Bee Paralysis Virus.  An additional objective of this survey is colony pesticide analysis to assess both the variety and quantity of pesticides present in honey bee hives.

During the 2024 Honey bee survey along with many other states in the U.S., ISDA will conduct 14 regular surveys and 5 longitudinal surveys throughout Idaho. The five longitudinal surveys will consist of apiaries which will be surveyed twice during the season: once in spring before honey flow and then again in the fall once honey is pulled off.

Honey Bee samples taken and preserved in alcohol will be inspected at University of Maryland using visual and microscopic analysis for the following:

Tropilaelaps presence or absence
A. cerana presence or absence
Varroa loads
Nosema spp. spore count  

Live bees taken from each apiary will be immediately mailed to the UMD Honey Bee Lab. There, the honey bees will be frozen at -80C and transported to the USDA ARS BRL where molecular analyses will be conducted to detect and quantify the following:

Lake Sinai virus-2 (LSV-2)
Acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV)
Chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV)
Deformed wing virus-A (DWV-A)
Deformed wing virus-B (formerly known as Varroa destructor virus) (DWV-B)
Kashmir bee virus (KBV)
Israelí acute paralysis virus (IAPV)
Slow bee paralysis virus (SBPV)
Moku Virus (MV)
Nosema ceranae

Additionally, ~3 grams of wax will be collected from brood frames and will be tested for the presence of 199 known pesticides.  Pollen will be collected from the 5 apiaries undergoing the longitudinal survey sampling and sent to the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) in Gastonia, NC for analysis.

The survey also includes a visual inspection of each hive before sampling.  Presence of the following are recorded at the apiaries and entered into the BIP database, but not included in analysis.

American Foul Brood
Black Shiny Bees
Chalkbrood
Deformed Wing Virus
European Foul Brood
Idiopathic Brood Disease Syndrome (IBDS)
Sac Brood
Small Hive Beetle Adults and Larvae
Wax Moth Adults and Larvae