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News Release 4-16-2002

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2002 GYPSY MOTH SUPPRESSION PROGRAM TO BEGIN

Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass has announced that the West Virginia Department of Agriculture’s (WVDA) 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. Public notification, environmental assessments, biological evaluations, work plans, safety plans and decision notices have all been completed for this project, which is a cooperative effort with the USDA Forest Service, county commissions, West Virginia University Cooperative Extension Service, West Virginia Division of Forestry and landowners to protect the state’s forest resources.

In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States, special additional attention is being given to security on this year’s program. The WVDA has been working closely with the USDA Forest Service, Division of Natural Resources’ Law Enforcement and others toward that end.

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; Braxton County Airport, Sutton; and Elkins Randolph County Airport, Elkins. The contact phone numbers for these operations will be 304-552-8565, 304-552-6169, 304-541-5465, the New Creek Office at 304-788-1066, or the Charleston Office at 304-558-2212.

The WVDA plans to treat a total of 74,588 acres located in portions of Berkeley, Braxton, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Monongalia, Morgan, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph, Upshur and Webster Counties. The proposed treatments will consist of a single application of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk) on approximately 4,475 acres and a double application of Btk on 170 acres. Approximately 1,300 acres will be treated with a single application of Gypchek®, while 68,473 acres are proposed to be treated with a single application of Dimilin.

The WVDA is planning to treat the 170-acre block of Federal land at Sutton Lake for regulatory suppression of gypsy moth with a double application of Btk. The proposed treatment is intended to reduce the population of gypsy moth egg masses below detectable levels. This population had been inadvertently introduced in the area several miles from known reproducing populations. This action will be part of the WVDA’s cooperative suppression project.

For more information on the CSCL Gypsy Moth Treatment Program, contact Dr. Charles C. Coffman, Director, or S. Clark Haynes, Assistant Director, WVDA Plant Industries Division at 304-558-2212, or Butch Sayers, Gypsy Moth Program Manager in New Creek at 304-788-1066.

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