Imported forest pests cause $2 billion in damage annually

In a study published this month in the journal Ecological Applications, Lovett and 15 colleagues estimated that 63 percent of U.S. forest land, or about 825 million acres, is at risk of increased damage from established pests, and new pests continue to arrive with cargo shipments from overseas.

Lovett and co-authors from Harvard Forest, the U.S. Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy, Dartmouth College, McGill University and Michigan State compiled existing data on the ecological and economic impacts of forest pests and made a case for several trade policy solutions.

Burgiel said progress is being made in both areas, with some major importers such as Wal-Mart eliminating wood packaging or switching to plastic for efficiency reasons, and the nursery and landscape industry taking steps such as importing plants without soil to reduce the risk of infestations.

"[...] moving away from solid wood packaging could be really beneficial ecologically not only here in the United States but in some of our international trading partners' forests as well," Lowenstein said, noting how old-growth hardwood trees had been cut down in prime orangutan habitat in Indonesia to make shipping pallets in China.