Jersey Beetles Conquer Loosestrife

One of the state's lesser known entities, the Phillip Alampi Beneficial Insect Rearing Laboratory, a division of the state's department of agriculture, is taking the battle between invasive plants and natural vegetation seriously. Purple Loosestrife has one known predator, the Galerucella beetle, and the lab is sending out as many of them as it can.

The New Jersey Dept. of Agriculture's official note on the project states:

Purple Loosestrife is an exotic and invasive noxious weed that is threatening New Jersey's wetlands. It damages the state’s wetlands by displacing native plants essential to wildlife for food and cover. The Department is rearing and releasing two species of leaf eating beetles, Galerucella spp., that feed on purple loosestrife to control this weed pest in wetland areas. Since 1997, more than 1,500,000 Galerucella spp. beetles have been released at 100 sites, in 16 of the 21 counties throughout NJ.

Numerous sites are continuing to show high levels of beetle activity and feeding damage; the loosestrife population is being reduced and native wetland plants are beginning to populate these previously infested sites. The Galerucella spp. beetles have been recovered up to twelve miles from a release site.