24-hour alert at border

State steps up effort to stop invasive species

The inspection station on U.S. Highway 101 south of the Oregon border is now open 24 hours per day. The Daily Triplicate/Nicholas Grube

The “Bug Station,” has been open more often than it has been for the last five years. In fact, it never closes now.

After five years of frequently shuttered bays, the inspection stations at the California/Oregon border on highways 101 and 199 returned to operating 24 hours a day in August 2008, and  business is booming.

In the first six months of 2008, inspectors at the Highway 101 station found 35 prohibited pests and noxious weeds, said Steve Lyle, director of public affairs for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).

Since last summer’s increase in staffing and hours, more than 300 separate incidents of “bad bugs” were caught at the border, he said.

The massive increase is due to a similar increase in staffing at inspection stations.

After a round of budget cuts in 2003, the staff at the highway 101 station was reduced to one full-time and one seasonal inspector, Lyle said.

Due to the lack of personnel, the inspection station was often closed.

The 2003 budget cut reduced even some of the largest inspection stations to concentrating primarily on commercial inspections. The new budget allows all inspection stations to be fully staffed around the clock for commercial and non-commercial vehicles.

The reopening of the Highway 101 station as a 24-hour location required the hiring of two additional full-time inspectors and five more seasonal ones.

“We received a budget augmentation in the 2008-2009 budget to  open all stations,” said Lyle. “It has always been a concern for this agency to keep the stations open 24/7.”

The increased budget was triggered by an increase in invasive species in the state.

The governor and Legislature agreed that the problem needed to be taken care of and added funding for the program, Lyle said, despite other state funding being restricted due to California’s economic problems.

The inspection stations have a long list of pests and noxious weeds to look out for. According to the CDFA Web site, some of the more serious pests include gypsy moth, imported fire ant, boll weevil, zebra mussel, pecan weevil, Japanese beetle, Oriental fruit fly, Mexican fruit fly, European corn borer, burrowing nematode, musk thistle and diffuse knapweed.

“We are also inspecting boats and boat trailers looking for invasive aquatic species,” Lyle said.

All drivers who pass into California through inspection stations are stopped and asked whether they have fruits and vegetables.

“If people answer ‘yes,’ we check to see if what is being brought in could contain or be an invasive species,” Lyle said. “If it is problematic we confiscate it.”

Lyle said that it has been the belief of the CDFA since 2003 that commercial shipping creates the greatest threat for invasive species crossing the state line.

“But judging by the numbers, keeping these stations open 24 hours a day is really important as well,” Lyle said.

According to the Web site, there are six agriculture inspection stations at California’s Oregon border, five on the Nevada border and five on the Arizona/Mexico border.