4-11-2003 |
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2003 GYPSY MOTH SUPPRESSION PROGRAM TO BEGIN Agriculture Commissioner Gus R. Douglass announced today 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. He went on to say that the Slow the Spread (STS) portion of the state’s gypsy moth program, which relies heavily on the aerial application of pheromone flakes for gypsy moth mating disruption, would begin around June 20, depending on moth flight. Commissioner Douglass said that “public notification, environmental assessments, biological evaluations, work plans, safety plans and decision notices have all been completed for these projects, which are 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.” With the threat of terrorist activity directed at the United States,
additional attention is being given to security during this year’s
program. The WVDA has been working closely with the USDA Forest
Service, local law enforcement and others toward that end. The CSCL Program will be operating out of the Grant County Airport at Petersburg while the STS Program will be operating out of the Beckley Airport. The contact phone numbers for these operations will be 304-552-8565, the New Creek Office at 304-788-1066, or the Charleston Office at 304-558-2212. A total of 4,186 acres located in portions of Berkeley, Braxton, Grant, Hampshire, Morgan, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Upshur, and Webster Counties will be treated as part of the CSCL Program. The proposed treatments will consist of a single application of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk) on 153 acres, a double application of Btk on 170 acres and a single application of Dimilin on 3,693 acres. Four blocks, totaling 116,159 acres of federal, state, and private lands in McDowell, Mercer, Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming Counties, will be treated with pheromone flakes. This operation will be conducted around June 20 as part of the STS Program that is cooperative with the USDA Forest Service. In order of size, these four blocks are 1,886 acres, 7,242 acres, 51,940 acres and 55,091 acres. For more information on the WVDA’s gypsy moth treatment programs,
you may contact Dr. Charles C. Coffman, Director, or S. Clark Haynes,
Assistant Director, of the Plant Industries Division in Charleston
at 304-558-2212 or Butch Sayers, Gypsy Moth Program Manager, in
New Creek at 304-788-1066.
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