Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1993 TAG: 9301270046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
VA. NO. 1 IN GYPSY MOTHS
Government experts on Tuesday declared Virginia No. 1 in gypsy moth damage and outlined this year's strategy to combat the leaf-eating pest.About 748,000 acres were defoliated in Virginia last year, 35,000 acres more than No. 2 Michigan and 100,000 more than the biggest victim last year, Pennsylvania. The defoliation covered about 600,000 acres in Virginia in 1991, according to statistics compiled by the state Department of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service.
Officials have not determined the monetary loss.
Beginning with the first outbreak in 1984, gypsy moth defoliation in Virginia has been mapped annually through high-altitude aerial photography.
During a break at a conference in Roanoke of gypsy moth program coordinators, Stephanie Springle of Page County described a typical gypsy moth cycle.
"Here's what counties on the front lines of the advance can expect," said Springle, a four-year veteran of the gypsy moth war. "The first wave of infestation is the worst. What's really upsetting to people is caterpillars crawling all over their houses, squishing them on the carpets. They can't go out on the decks anymore. They can't find any shade. After a couple years of defoliation, the shade trees die."
The defoliation weakens trees and makes them susceptible to fatal diseases and infestations by wood-boring insects.
Jeff Witcosky of the U.S. Forest Service said the problem would have been worse last year if not for a fungus that killed large numbers of caterpillars.
Most of the defoliated woodlands are in the Shenandoah Valley and adjacent mountains and in Northern Virginia. The "front line" of the gypsy moth advance stretches from Highland County south to Rockbridge, Amherst and Buckingham counties and down to the Tidewater region.
About 67,000 acres in those areas will be sprayed this year with chemical and bacterial insecticides, said Gary McAninch, coordinator of the Virginia Cooperative Gypsy Moth Suppression Program.
Last year, 203,000 acres were sprayed to control the pest infestation.
"It's a combination of budget problems, and we just can't find as many egg masses as we did in the past," McAninch said in explaining the planned cut in spraying.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.