European Wasp Project wraps up

Published on 10 January 2025

A community-wide campaign to trap European wasp queens has reduced wasp numbers across the Shire by 800,000 or more this summer. Following this year’s success, Council now hopes to expand the project in the future.

European wasps are a pest in Australia. Their opportunistic and competitive diet can have major negative impacts on native species, honey production, fruit and pollination. They also impact public spaces, social activities, sport and recreation.

Council targeted queens between September and December last year – the period when new queens come out of hibernation and establish new colonies.

Council set up 24 traps in several spaces including the Botanic Park, along Ford Creek, in Merrijig and at the Resource Recovery Centre. Community members also collected a total of 125 traps from Council for use at home, and a QR code allowed keen trappers to register their catches.

At least 285 queens were successfully trapped and killed throughout the campaign. It is estimated this has prevented at least 800,000 wasps from being hatched in new colonies over summer.

Mayor Cr Steve Rabie was thrilled by the level of participation in the community.

“So many people came together to support this project, and we’re grateful to every one of you,” he said.

“This whole community effort has made a real impact on the European wasp population in our Shire. That’s great news for our environment, and we won’t miss the wasps at our barbecues either,” Cr Rabie said.

A major contributor to the project was Keith Padbury, who provided expert guidance and knowledge to community members and helped develop a fact sheet with instructions for making traps.

“It’s great to hear that we’ve prevented 285 nests from being established,” Mr Padbury said.

“But it doesn’t end here. There’s no way we’ve caught every queen coming out of hibernation last year to establish a new nest.

“Late summer to autumn is another critical time for people to be on the watch. If a nest is active it will start producing new queens at this time, which then disperse and go into hibernation.

“I’m really happy to see the community get on board with tackling our wasp population, and I hope more people continue to get involved. A nest in your backyard or on your house will spread more wasps to all the surrounding areas. The only way we can get on top of this problem is to all work together at the same time,” Mr Padbury said.

Other key project supporters included Steam Café in Mansfield, who supplied milk bottles to be made into traps, and Carley Burdon at the Woods Point Hotel, who brewed bait solution and set up traps for use by Woods Point locals.

With such support from the community, the overall project was successfully delivered for less than $200 in materials. Due to the campaign’s success in 2024, Council hopes to expand the project next year to include all outlying towns, keeping up the pressure on the wasps.