News Release 6-6-2000 |
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25,166 ACRES TREATED FOR GYPSY MOTH CHARLESTON, W.VA. - More than 25,000 acres of forested and forested residential land in eight counties have been treated in an effort to slow the spread and reduce the economic impacts of the gypsy moth in West Virginia. According to Agriculture Commissioner Gus R. Douglass, a total of 7,417 acres in Morgan, Hampshire, Mineral, Hardy and Webster Counties were included in the Cooperative State-County-Landowner (CSCL) Program. The project includes the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA), United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDA-FS), West Virginia University Cooperative Extension Service, the county commissions and private landowners. Landowners paid 57 percent of the actual cost of application and insecticide and the USDA-FS covered the other 43 percent of this cost. Treatment ran from May 8 to May 22, 2000. The insect growth regulator Dimilin (diflubenzuron) was used on 6,290 acres and Btk (Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki) was applied to 1,127 acres. WVDA Plant Industries Division Assistant Director J. Douglas Hacker said more than 170,000 acres qualified for treatment this year, but landowners/land managers chose not to participate in the program. "We are already getting several reports of gypsy moth defoliation in areas that were not treated." WVDA and the Cooperative Extension Service have already started taking requests for sign up for the 2001 CSCL Suppression Program. During the Gypsy Moth Slow the Spread (STS) Program in the southern part of the state, 17,749 acres were treated with two applications of Btk at 24 BIU's per acre per application. This treatment took place in Greenbrier, the eastern edge of Fayette and southern Nicholas Counties. The STS Program is a cooperative program between the WVDA and the USDA-FS. The final portion of the 2000 program will be completed the week of June 19 in Mercer County, where 1,125 acres will be treated with pheromone flakes. These flakes are designed to disrupt the successful mating of the gypsy moth. For more information, contact Bill Bissett, WVDA Communications Chief, 304/558-2201. |
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©2001, 2002 West Virginia Department of Agriculture, All Rights Reserved |
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