Nature doesn’t just support life and biodiversity, it also supports our economies through industries like maple syrup, timber and paper products, and horticulture. Unfortunately, some of these industries are certain to be affected by jumping worms.  

Maple Syrup

North America, particularly Canada, is responsible for the entire global supply of maple syrup. Jumping worms are especially attracted to the soft, nutritious leaf litter from maple trees. When these worms invade a sugar forest, these sensitive trees suffer: their trunks grow less thick, their canopies die off, and the next generation of sugar maple seedlings is drastically reduced. In a study of 47 sugar bushes in New England and New York, forests invaded by jumping worms had 0.5 maple seedlings per square meter, while uninvaded forests had 6 per square meter. If sugar maple forests cannot effectively produce a new generation of trees, the entire future of this industry is at risk.

Timber + Paper Products

Jumping worm impacts on forest regeneration are likely to also threaten the $300 billion timber, wood, and paper industries of the Northeast and Midwestern United States. Several projects underway now explore key questions that will help us answer the degree to which lumber forests are threatened, including mapping which kinds of forests, timber stands, and leaf litter are most vulnerable to worm invasion, and how the invasion to these systems can be limited or mitigated.

Horticulture

The national value of the green industry exceeds $190 billion in GDP contributions and supports 1.6 million jobs. In jumping worm-affected regions like New England, the industry was valued in 2009 at nearly 4.7 billion, supporting 156,000 jobs. 

Horticulture material is currently the primary way that these worms move into new terrain. Cocoons and juvenile worms hitchhike in potted and burlap-and-bagged plants, compost, mulch, and soil, and from the affected yards, they spread into adjacent forests.

This makes the horticultural and landscaping industries the target of potential future regulations, which have been floated in several states including Minnesota, and are already in place in New York and Wisconsin. As jumping worm awareness grows, individual nurseries and garden centers affected by worms may also find themselves answering to customers. Finally, because potted plants affected by worms often struggle, plant sellers may face a more straightforward loss in the quality of their product. 

This also makes green industries critical allies in the fight against jumping worms. Stopping the spread from nurseries, garden centers, and other landscape groups is the single most effective way to slow their spread into all other ecosystems. This is also one of our most achievable, short-term goals, because of the nature of nurseries, which rely on contained plant material that is more easily treated and assessed than entire forests or backyards.