Plant pest surveillance

On this page

• Plant Health Surveillance Unit contact information
• Annual plant health survey reports
• Survey tools
• Plant pest fact sheets
• Survey protocols for regulated plant pests
• Plant pest cards
• References
• Asian longhorned beetle simulation sites
• Invasive Plant Field Guide
• Field Guide to Jewel Beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) of Northeastern North America
• Exotic Forest Insect Guidebook
• Intercepted Plant Pest List

The national plant protection survey program provides information in support of import, export, and domestic regulatory programs and is the basis for sound regulatory decisions.

Pest surveys are required to maintain claims of "pest-free" status of an area, to detect new populations of quarantine pests, and to delimit populations of quarantine pests with limited distributions in Canada. Pest surveys are also an integral part of control and eradication programs.

The Plant Health Surveillance Unit:

• plans, coordinates, and administers the national survey program
• designs new surveys and refines survey techniques and tools
• provides training, technical support, and surveillance tools for program and operational staff
• liaise with other departments, industry and external parties
• maintains the national repository of survey data
• develops national survey protocols, inspection guides, survey calendar and information sheets

Plant Health Surveillance Unit contact information

Erin Bullas-Appleton, National Manager
Telephone Number: 519-820-4205

Thierry Poiré, Survey Biologist, National Capital Region
Telephone Number: 613-773-5155

Ron Neville, Survey Biologist, Atlantic Area
Telephone Number: 902-536-1022

Olivier Morin, Survey Biologist, Quebec Area
Telephone Number: 450-513-2726

Nicole Mielewczyk, A/Survey Biologist, Ontario Area
Telephone Number: 905-537-2820

David Holden, Survey Biologist, Western Area
Telephone Number: 604-292-5643

Troy Kimoto, Survey Biologist, Forestry
Telephone Number: 604-292-5651

To be notified when new information is available on plant health related topics, please subscribe to our Email Notification Services and follow us on Twitter at @CFIA_Canada.

For more information on plant protection surveys and on the survey tools below, please contact us.

Annual plant health survey reports

• Survey report (2022-2023)
• Survey report (2021-2022)
  • Infographic
• Survey report (2020-2021)
• Survey report (2019-2020)
• Survey report (2018-2019)
  • Infographic
• Survey report – Previous years
• 2021 British Columbia Japanese beetle survey report

Survey tools

Various survey tools have been developed to help CFIA staff, partners, stakeholders and the general public to identify plant pests of concern. The detection of pests not known to occur in Canada or regulated pests outside of the regulated area must be reported to the Plant Health Surveillance Unit or to your local CFIA office.

Survey tools that are available include:

Plant pest fact sheets

• Insects
• Plant diseases
• Invasive Plants
• Nematodes and others

Survey protocols for regulated plant pests

• Contact us for more details

Plant pest cards

The Plant Pest Cards have been produced to enhance the awareness and recognition of plant pests by any interested stakeholders.

To request printed copies of the Plant Pest Cards, contact the Plant Pest Surveillance Unit.

Cards available:

• Apple maggot
• AGM (Lymantria albescens, Lymantria umbrosa, Lymantria postalba, Lymantria dispar japonica and Lymantria dispar asiatica)
• Asian longhorned beetle
• Blueberry maggot
• Box tree moth
• Brown spruce longhorn beetle
• Emerald ash borer
• European cherry fruit fly
• European oak leafroller
• LDD moth (Lymantria dispar dispar)
• Hemlock woolly adelgid
• Japanese Beetle
• Japanese stiltgrass
• Khapra beetle
• Kudzu
• Oak Wilt
• Lymantria mathura Moore
• Plum Pox Virus
• Red-necked longhorn beetle
• Spotted lanternfly
• Tomato leaf miner
• Verticillium wilt on canola
• Yellow starthistle

References

• Cerceris fumipennis - a biosurveillance tool for Emerald Ash Borer
• Asian longhorned beetle: An unwanted invasive species (poster)
• Detecting signs and symptoms of Asian longhorned beetle injury: Training guide

Asian longhorned beetle simulation sites

Training sites with simulated signs of ALHB attack have been set up in various locations in Canada. Signage has been placed next to the replicated infestation to provide the public with information on ALHB and to identify the area as a simulation site only.

For municipalities: if you are interested in having an ALHB simulation site set-up in your municipality, please contact us.

Invasive Plant Field Guide

This guide is designed to be used as a key reference guide during the invasive plant survey. For questions about the guide, contact the Invasive Alien Species section.

Field Guide to Jewel Beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) of Northeastern North America

This field guide covers 164 jewel beetle species for northeastern North American (Manitoba and eastward) and is intended to assist municipal foresters, arborists, technicians, entomologists, woodlot owners and naturalists in recognizing specimens encountered in the field.

Exotic Forest Insect Guidebook

This book is designed for public and private sector Canadians who work in the areas of tree health and arboriculture. This book focuses more on insect descriptions, host tree preferences, damage symptoms and geographic distribution rather than insect biology in order to increase the probability of finding exotic pests during tree health assessments.

Intercepted Pest List for Plant Commodities

Intercepted Pest Lists (IPL) are prepared by the Plant Health Laboratory Services Unit. They are prepared on demand and tailored to requestor's needs. Typically, IPLs summarize detections from samples submitted to CFIA Plant Laboratories of pests found in plants, plant products, passenger baggage, used equipment, cargo, mail, and other carriers entering or leaving Canada.

The detections are performed by the trained experts of CFIA's Plant Laboratories with support from specialists at the Canadian Forest Service, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and reference to the national biological collections.

For more information on the CFIA's four Plant laboratories, visit the CFIA website.

• Charlottetown Laboratory
• Ottawa Plant Laboratory
• Saskatoon Laboratory's Center for Seed Science and Technology
• Sidney Laboratory, Centre for Plant Health

To request an IPL contact Plant Diagnostics. Ensure the request includes details regarding the plant pest and/or commodity of interest as well as the time period of interest.