Early detection of exotic forest pests is critical to maintain the health of forest and landscape plants

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) received a $148,000 Cooperative Agreement from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care program (CFDA 10.025), effective September 18, 2025 through September 17, 2026. This award supports IDNR's implementation of outreach and education initiatives designed to increase public understanding, acceptance, and support for early detection, eradication, and control of exotic forest pests of regulatory concern in Indiana, aligning with Section 7721 of the Plant Protection Act.

IDNR will deliver products and services including the maintenance and expansion of web and social media platforms (reportinvasive.com) across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in coordination with the Indiana Invasive Species Council to provide centralized public access to invasive species information. The agreement also funds the creation of short educational videos targeting industry stakeholders and the general public, development and expansion of volunteer networks for pest detection and outreach coordination through the Purdue Landscape Report blog (4,300+ subscribers) and IDNR Weekly Review (6,500+ subscribers). Expected outcomes include increased reported sightings of regulatory pest concerns, enhanced public-facing digital resources, and greater overall public engagement in pest detection and reporting efforts.

Activities

This project aligns with goal 5: "conduct outreach and education to increase public understanding, acceptance and support of plant pest and disease eradication control efforts" developed at the secretary of agriculture's direction to aphis to implement section 7721 of the plant protection act. Indnr will continue to coordinate the web and social media presence via their website and associated facebook, instagram, and twitter sites (reportinvasive.COM) with input from the indiana invasive species council (IISC) to make IT simpler for the public to access information about invasive species from multiple state agencies. Continue to create short educational videos about invasive species for industry and members of the public to assist the state in reporting existence of these pests in the environment. Create or build upon existing volunteer network programs for outreach an D pest detection throughout the state via the bimonthly purdue landscape report blog > 4300 subscribers (purduelandscapereport.ORG), the idnr weekly review > 6500 subscribers deliverables and expected outcomes: an increase in the reported sightings of pests of regulatory concern, more and better facing public websites, more engagement by the public as a whole. Intended beneficiary(IES): indiana and the whole of the usasubrecipient activities, if known or specified at the time of award: none at this time.