09/10/2026
Last month, IERCD’s Forestry Team joined the California Invasive Species Council Field Tour for a behind-the-scenes look at invasive species prevention, detection, and management across Southern California.
One of the most fascinating stops was the Mediterranean fruit fly program at Los Alamitos Army Airfield. Medflies can infest hundreds of fruits and vegetables, so California works year-round to keep them from becoming established. One of the tools? More Medflies. A LOT more. Sterile males are raised in large numbers, cooled to slow them down, loaded onto aircraft, and released over targeted areas. When wild females mate with sterile males, they do not produce viable offspring, helping keep populations from growing.
The tour also covered pest-detection dogs, released pets, invasive tree pests, aquatic species moving through ballast water and on ship hulls, and invasive plant management at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve.
The big takeaway: early action matters. Different species move and behave differently, which means prevention and management can look very different too. Seeing these approaches firsthand gives IERCD’s Forestry Team more context for recognizing emerging issues, understanding how species spread, and thinking about how those lessons can apply to local forestry and invasive species work.
