5-16-2003 |
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4,270 ACRES TREATED FOR GYPSY MOTH According to Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass, a total of 4,270 acres of forested and forested residential land has been treated in an effort to reduce the economic impact of gypsy moths in the following nine counties that are part of the Cooperative State-County-Landowner (CSCL) Program: Berkeley, Braxton, Grant, Hampshire, Morgan, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Upshur and Webster. This program is a cooperative effort between the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA), USDA Forest Service (USDA-FS), West Virginia University Cooperative Extension Service (WVU-CES), county commissions and private landowners. In addition, the West Virginia Division of Forestry provides direct field assistance to the WVDA in the conduct of the spray project portion of the program. The program requires landowners to pay 57 percent of the actual cost of application and insecticide and the USDA-FS covers the other 43 percent of this cost. The entire program is a year-long process that culminates in the treatment project in May. Treatment ran from May 4-14. The spray block at Sutton Lake in Braxton County was an isolated infestation at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers campground that was treated twice, 10 days apart, with the bacterial insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk). The insect growth regulator Dimilin (diflubenzuron) was applied to 3,770 acres of state and private land and Btk was applied to 500 acres of federal and private land. WVDA Plant Industries Division Assistant Director S. Clark Haynes said that 431,624 acres were signed up and surveyed for gypsy moth egg masses during 2002. Of this, 6,199 acres qualified for treatment, but some landowners/managers chose not to treat, which reduced the final treatment figures to the 4,270 acres given above. The WVDA and Cooperative Extension Service will start taking requests for sign up for the 2004 CSCL Program July 1. For more information, contact S. Clark Haynes, Assistant Director, WVDA Plant Industries Division, 304/558-2212 or by e-mail, chaynes@ag.state.wv.us. |
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