Oregon Dept. of Agriculture warns of possible spotted lanternfly sighting in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Oregon Department of Agriculture is warning about an unconfirmed sighting of a spotted lanternfly in a Portland residential park – posing ecological and economic threats to the state.

In a Thursday press release, the department said it was made aware of an online report from iNaturalist -- a platform where community members can share observations from the outdoors -- with an image of a spotted lanternfly at Colonel Summers Park on May 12.

That week, ODA and the United States Department of Agriculture conducted visual surveys of the park and surrounding neighborhood to find signs of the insect, set monitoring traps and conduct outreach with neighbors.

But after two surveys, ODA said there were no signs of the spotted lanternfly, leaving the iNaturalist report unconfirmed.

The state and federal agencies will continue conducting surveys and trap the area in the coming weeks, officials said, noting until ODA collects a “physical specimen,” and has confirmed the sighting, the spotted lantern is not considered to be present in the state.

While ODA has not documented any living spotted lanternfly populations in Oregon, staffers in the agency have “intercepted multiple dead adult SLF and a live egg mass on incoming equipment from outside Oregon in recent years,” ODA said.

“These interceptions highlight the risk of introducing SLF into Oregon, as rail cars, trucks, other cargo, and even personal vehicles move from infested states to the West, where SLF is not known to occur,” ODA explained.

According to the agency, SLF pose an ecological and economic threat to the state because the insect attacks a variety of plant species and are known to impact the grapevine and nursery industries.

ODA explained the lanternfly is known to exist in 18 states in the mid-west and eastern parts of the United States.

The agency asks residents to report potential sightings to the Oregon Invasive Species Hotline.