WSDA Asks Washingtonians To 'Adopt A Wasp' To Help Trap Murder Hornets

SEATTLE — Since they were first spotted in Washington in late 2019, Asian giant hornets have become a seasonal problem for the state Department of Agriculture (WSDA). The hornets are sometimes called "murder hornets" by those of us with a penchant for the dramatic, but while their sting can be deadly in rare cases, more worrying is their impact on the local ecosystem.

Asian giant hornets are an apex predator, known for attacking for eradicating other bee and hornet nests. Killing bees, in particular, could have a knock-on effect impacting crops across the state, so the WSDA has vowed to prevent the invasive wasps from getting a foothold in the Evergreen State.

Ultimately, the agency's goal is to go three full years without an Asian giant hornet sighting, which organizers say will mean that the insects will have effectively been removed from the Pacific Northwest. To make that goal a reality, this year the WSDA has a plan to turn the tables on the hornets, using their predatory ways as a means to track the invasive species' spread. That plan, is called "adopt a wasp" and it basically works just like it sounds: Washingtonians who see a paper wasp nest on their property, are being asked to leave the wasps be, rather than wipe them out, essentially using their nests as bait to track the spread of Asian giant hornets.

Anyone from Washington who spots a paper wasp nest can take part in the wasp adoption program, though the WSDA is particularly hoping to find willing participants in Whatcom County, home to almost all the state's hornet sightings. When the program launches in earnest next month, participants will simply be asked to check on paper wasp nests once a week, and report their findings online.

"It's pretty easy to do, as long as you keep your distance, and you have a camera and a steady hand," said Sven Spichiger, Washington state Department of Agriculture managing entomologist. "Just about anybody who has a paper wasp nest on their land can actually help the cause by simply snapping a photo."

Paper wasps are significantly smaller than Asian giant hornets, clocking in at about 3/4 of an inch long. They also have a well-defined “wasp waist” that makes them easy to identify, the WSDA said, and build small, open comb nests made up of exposed cells.

The WSDA eliminated three Asian giant hornet nests last year, all three of which were found thanks to citizen reports. Researchers are hopeful this new partnership with the public can bring in even better results this year.

"All three of our nests, for the most part, came from public reports where folks had noticed Asian giant hornets feeding on the paper wasps in these paper wasps nests," said Spichiger. "Sure enough, this turned out to be a valuable tool for us."

Outside the "citizen scientist" adopt a wasp program, the WSDA will also be setting up about a thousand wasp traps in southern and northern Whatcom County. The bigger focus, according to Spichiger, is northern Whatcom County near the border with Canada, where all the active nests have been identified in years past.

One wasp was found in the Bellingham area in 2020, so the WSDA will continue to set up traps in that area until they have 3 full years with zero finds. Assuming no hornets are found near Bellingham this year, it will be the last year they'll need to install traps in southern Whatcom.

The only other part of Washington that saw any Asian hornet activity last year was Snohomish County, where a single giant hornet was captured early in the season. Spichiger says the state is relatively confident that case was a fluke, and that there are no nests or active hornets in the Puget Sound region.