MINNEAPOLIS -- As you get out and start working on your yard and in your garden, you are being advised to watch for the highly invasive jumping worms. The worms can damage the soil and gardens.

They have spread across several Midwestern states, including here in Minnesota. So far there has been one reported incident in Stearns County, two in Sherburne County, and one in Wright County.

The University of Minnesota says jumping worms look and act differently than the European earthworms we know. They move less like a worm and more like a snake and thrash around when they are disturbed, thus their name jumping worms.

Jumping Worms Map
Jumping Worms Map
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Because of their ability to clone themselves, just one jumping worm can start a population. They are voracious eaters of your garden's organic materials.

The best thing you can do about any invasive species is to not introduce it to the area in the first place by knowing where your landscaping materials are coming from. If you use live earthworms to fish, be sure to throw whatever bait you don't use into the trash. Once they are introduced to the environment it is too late.

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