1 INTRODUCTION

In the spring of 1994, swarmers of the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar), were noticed in the boiler room and the museum area in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, New York. Swarming was so extensive that the museum was temporarily closed to visitors.

The statue was erected in 1886 on the pedestal in the center of old Fort Wood, which was constructed between 1806 and 1811 (Hugins 1956). Since the days of Fort Wood, there has been no record of termite damage or infestation on the 14-acre Liberty Island, located 600 m east of the New Jersey shore and 2,400 m southwest of Manhattan Island (Levine 1952; Greenstein 1963). Although R. flavipes is an endemic species to the eastern United States and probably existed on both sides of the Hudson River before human settlement, the water apparently prevented natural termite invasion of the island. The detection of termite dispersal flights suggested the presence of mature colonies that may have been developing for several years prior to 1994. It was suspected that alate pairs or small colonies of R. flavipes might have hitchhiked in landscape or construction materials brought to the island during the 1984–86 restoration project. This article reports results of bait application to eliminate the subterranean termite populations from the Statue of Liberty National Monument.