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

The Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service awarded a $100,000 cooperative agreement to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on September 18, 2026, under the Plant Protection Act Section 7721 outreach and education program to expand public awareness and support for early detection and control of exotic forest pests.

INDNR will coordinate web and social media platforms including ReportInvasive.com, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with input from the Indiana Invasive Species Council to consolidate public access to invasive species information across state agencies. The recipient will produce educational videos on invasive species for industry and public audiences to support pest reporting, and will build and expand volunteer networks for outreach and detection throughout Indiana, leveraging existing platforms including the Purdue Landscape Report blog (43,000 subscribers) and the INDNR Weekly Review (6,500 subscribers). Expected outcomes include increased reported sightings of regulated pests, improved public websites, and heightened public engagement.

The award period runs through September 17, 2027. Place of performance is Indiana. No sub-recipients are specified at the time of award. Cost categories include personnel ($5,544), fringe benefits ($1,309), travel ($1,021), contractual services ($91,191), and indirect costs ($935).

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. Indiana department of natural resources (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 and pest detection throughout the state via the bimonthly purdue landscape report blog > 43 00 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. Cost categories: personnel: $5,544; fringe benefits: $1,309; travel: $1,021; contractual: $91,191; indirect costs: $935