News Releases

Home  |  Programs  |  Divisions  |  Links  |  About Us  |  Contact Us

News Release 4-11-2001

Return to 2001 News Releases

GYPSY MOTH SUPPRESSION PROGRAM TO BEGIN

For Immediate Release April 11, 20012001

CHARLESTON, WV — Agriculture Commissioner Gus R. Douglass announced today that the aerial spraying for gypsy moth in the Cooperative State, County, Landowner (CSCL) Program will begin around the end of April or the first of May, depending on egg mass hatch and foliage development.
The Slow the Spread (STS) Program, which only involves mating disruption treatments for 2001, will begin around the middle of June. Public notification, environmental assessments, biological evaluations, work and safety plans and decision notices have all been completed for these projects, which are cooperative efforts with the USDA Forest Service, county commissions, West Virginia University Cooperative Extension Service and landowners.

The CSCL Program will be operating out of the Eastern Regional Airport – Martinsburg, Potomac Airpark – Berkeley Springs, Greater Cumberland Regional Airport – Wiley Ford, Grant County Airport – Petersburg, Upshur County Regional Airport – Buckhannon, Morgantown Municipal Airport – Morgantown, and Greenbrier Valley Airport – Lewisburg. The contact phone numbers for these operations will be 304/539-4368, 304/552-6169, 304/541-5465, the New Creek Office at 304/788-1066, or the Charleston Office at 304/558-2212.

The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) will treat a total of 136,735 acres in Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire, Mineral, Hardy, Grant, Pendleton, Brooke, Marshall, Monongalia, Preston, Harrison, Upshur and Pocahontas counties. There will be 129,981 acres treated with Dimilin, 6,241acres treated with Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk) and 513 acres treated with Mimic. In addition to the CSCL Program, the WVDA will assist with treating 14,014 acres on the Monongahela National Forest with Btk. The WVDA will also treat 60 acres in Jackson County with Dimilin as a part of the Gypsy Moth Regulatory Program.

This year’s STS treatments will consist of five treatment blocks totaling 36,729 acres that will be treated with pheromone flakes to disrupt gypsy moth mating. These blocks are located in Kanawha, Fayette, Summers, Greenbrier and Mercer counties and will be treated around mid-June. The application aircraft will be operating out of the Raleigh County Memorial Airport at Beckley. The contact phone numbers for this operation will be 304/541-5465, 304/552-6169, or the Charleston office at 304/558-2212.

For more information on the CSCL or the STS Gypsy Moth Treatment Programs, or the Gypsy Moth Trapping Program, contact Charles C. Coffman, Director, or J. Douglas Hacker, Assistant Director, WVDA Plant Industries Division, 304/558-2212.

Return to 2001 News Releases

Home  |  Programs  |  Divisions  |  Links  |  About Us  |  Contact Us

©2001, 2002 West Virginia Department of Agriculture, All Rights Reserved

Contact the Webmaster