The sole reason my state issues nursery permits is to track and avoid the spread of several insects and diseases . Otherwise they don't care.
They've kept chronic wasting disease in deer and emerald ash borers out of my state when they have issues in neighboring states so I'm ok with that I guess?
Hi, have been lurking for a long while now and only posting once in a while, just wanting to let posters to know I find this conversation very intriguing. I have wonder about this on many occasions, so I don't know the answer but the example I can come up with is Boa Constrictors that are destroying the native wildlife in Florida, bees that are killing the native bees and so forth, but then again I think of the dreaded thistle and yet I see all the wonderful butterfly's an insects that depend on them now. Just my 2 cents which really doesn't help, but there it is
But IMO it's naive to think that once a pest has entered a continent that we can regulate and legislate to prevent it's spread. We may slow the progress. But if the pest can survive in a given climate, it will do so.