Forum—A National Formosan Subterranean Termite Termites are
among the most economically important insects in the world.
While also ecologically important in nutrient recycling, they're
best known as structural and plant pests that compete with
people for shelter and food. The Formosan subterranean termite
is a species from Asia that now infests over a dozen U.S.
states, costing its human competitors about $1 billion annually
in control measures and damage repair. In this issue, you'll
read about "Operation Full Stop," a national termite-fighting
campaign led by USDA's Agricultural Research Service. Along with
its collaborators, ARS is launching a coordinated attack using
environmentally sound management practices aimed at suppressing
termite populations and eliminating the damage they cause. This
attack will take three concurrent · Integrating the best
available control technologies into large-area pilot tests to
suppress termite populations and keep them from regaining ·
Conducting site-specific trials to ev