An Asian giant hornet nest was found Aug. 19 in Whatcom County, Wash., about a quarter mile from where a hornet was sighted earlier this month, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

Department entomologists will develop a plan to eradicate the nest, which is in a rural area east of Blaine near the Canadian border. The eradication likely will be within a week, the department said.

The nest is at the base of a tree on private property, and entomologists will investigate whether the hornets are nesting in the tree or ground, department spokeswoman Karla Salp said.

At this time of the year, no new queens should be emerging, she said. The nest “should not be in a reproductive state,” she said.

The department was more pressed to quickly eradicate the nest it found last October. At that time of year, queens were emerging. It was the first Asian giant hornet nest destroyed in the U.S.

Live Asian giant hornets have been seen in Whatcom County and across the border in British Columbia, but nowhere else in North America.

The department focused its efforts east of Blaine in the past week after a resident submitted a photo of an Asian giant hornet attacking a paper wasp nest.

The department netted, tagged with electronic devices and released two hornets Aug. 11. Those hornets eluded their followers. A third hornet netted Aug. 17 helped entomologists focus their search Aug. 19.

Department staff, joined by staff from the Oregon Department of Agriculture and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, started searching for the nest at 7:30 a.m. Thursday and spotted it at 9:15 a.m.

There may be more nests, according to the department, which asks the public to report suspect sightings at agr.wa.gov/hornets.

Asian giant hornets are the world’s largest hornet and prey on honey bees and other insects.