The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Spotted Lanternfly Compliance and Enforcement Team has started conducting spotted lanternfly permit and inspection record checks for businesses in Cumberland and York counties.
“We’ve been saying for a long time now that businesses are an important part of the fight against the spotted lanternfly and they should protect with a permit,” Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding said in a media release. “With a spotted lanternfly business permit and an educated workforce, we can stop this threat in its tracks while keeping business and commerce moving, trade and consumers protected.”
In March of 2021, the department added eight counties to Pennsylvania’s quarantine zone, which now spans from the eastern to western boundaries and includes 34 total counties. In July, the department announced it would begin canvassing those counties to ensure businesses were doing their part to slow the spread of the spotted lanternfly, an invasive planthopper native to Asia first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2014.
Businesses that operate or do business in quarantined counties are required to obtain a free permit. Violators of permit requirements are subject up to $300 fines per violation.
The spotted lanternfly business permit and inspection canvassing program aims to raise awareness of the value of quarantine compliance actions that work to slow the spread of this invasive pest. Department canvassers will always show their commonwealth ID and will ask to see proof of permit in addition to inspection and training records.
For more information, read the Department of Agriculture’s media release.