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State concerned about gypsy moth findings
Friday, August 18, 2006 | No comments posted.
BEND (AP) - The state Department of Agriculture said 32 gypsy moths have been found in traps set in a neighborhood northwest of Bend.
The gypsy moth, which is well-established on the East Coast, devours tree leaves, causing widespread defoliation that weakens and sometimes kills trees and shrubs. The agency, which set roughly 19,000 traps statewide, wants to stop the moth before it establishes a foothold, potentially hurting crops, forests and nurseries.
The traps attract male gypsy moths by emitting a pheromone naturally found in female moths. Last year, inspectors found one moth in the same neighborhood and nine statewide, said spokesman Bruce Pokarney.
Gypsy moths typically enter Oregon by attaching themselves to vehicles traveling from the eastern U.S. Two moths found this year in the Southern Oregon city of Shady Cove were in or near a recreational vehicle park along the Rogue River.
The insects breed quickly and disperse naturally by the wind or by laying their eggs on vehicles or camping equipment, said Alan Mudge, a state entomologist. “It's still a little too early to tell, but there's definitely a population there,” Mudge said. “We need to eradicate the populations before they have a chance to spread and infest other parts of Oregon.”
If the state cannot control the moth, a quarantine program would force nurseries that ship their products to gain gypsy moth-free certification.
“That's why we need to catch these before they get established,” Pokarney said.
There hasn't been a quarantine due to gypsy moth infestation since the mid-1980s, when roughly 19,000 moths were trapped in Lane County. The state quarantined parts of the county and sprayed approximately 225,000 acres with pesticides over a period of three years to eliminate the problem.
Told of the trapped moths Thursday, Central Oregon nursery owners said they were confident that the state could eradicate the moths without a quarantine.
“A quarantine would be devastating to anybody in the nursery business,” said Coreen Schilling, owner of Schilling Solar City Gardens on Old Bend Redmond Highway.
Schilling's nursery is a short distance from where the moths were found, and Agriculture Department inspectors used to set traps on her property. She would like them to do it again.
“It's like preventative medicine,” she said. “We'd like to meet the moths with our guns drawn.”
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Information from: The Bulletin, http://www.bendbulletin.com
The gypsy moth, which is well-established on the East Coast, devours tree leaves, causing widespread defoliation that weakens and sometimes kills trees and shrubs. The agency, which set roughly 19,000 traps statewide, wants to stop the moth before it establishes a foothold, potentially hurting crops, forests and nurseries.
The traps attract male gypsy moths by emitting a pheromone naturally found in female moths. Last year, inspectors found one moth in the same neighborhood and nine statewide, said spokesman Bruce Pokarney.
Gypsy moths typically enter Oregon by attaching themselves to vehicles traveling from the eastern U.S. Two moths found this year in the Southern Oregon city of Shady Cove were in or near a recreational vehicle park along the Rogue River.
The insects breed quickly and disperse naturally by the wind or by laying their eggs on vehicles or camping equipment, said Alan Mudge, a state entomologist. “It's still a little too early to tell, but there's definitely a population there,” Mudge said. “We need to eradicate the populations before they have a chance to spread and infest other parts of Oregon.”
If the state cannot control the moth, a quarantine program would force nurseries that ship their products to gain gypsy moth-free certification.
“That's why we need to catch these before they get established,” Pokarney said.
There hasn't been a quarantine due to gypsy moth infestation since the mid-1980s, when roughly 19,000 moths were trapped in Lane County. The state quarantined parts of the county and sprayed approximately 225,000 acres with pesticides over a period of three years to eliminate the problem.
Told of the trapped moths Thursday, Central Oregon nursery owners said they were confident that the state could eradicate the moths without a quarantine.
“A quarantine would be devastating to anybody in the nursery business,” said Coreen Schilling, owner of Schilling Solar City Gardens on Old Bend Redmond Highway.
Schilling's nursery is a short distance from where the moths were found, and Agriculture Department inspectors used to set traps on her property. She would like them to do it again.
“It's like preventative medicine,” she said. “We'd like to meet the moths with our guns drawn.”
---
Information from: The Bulletin, http://www.bendbulletin.com
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