Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 31, 1994 TAG: 9403310064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We are finding more insects everywhere we look," Gary McAninch, coordinator of the Virginia Cooperative Gypsy Moth Suppression Program, said Wednesday. "The last couple of years we were in a kind of a lull in the insect's life cycle. Now we're in an up-building."
Bacterial insecticides will be sprayed on 113,500 acres of egg-infested woodlands, primarily in Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. Last year, they were sprayed on 60,000 acres. The federal government pays about half the cost and the state and local governments each pay a quarter of the cost. The state's allocation will be the same as last year, $180,000.
Counties expecting the greatest concentrations of gypsy moths, and doing the most spraying, are Prince William, Frederick, Warren, Clarke and Fairfax.
That spraying will coincide with the insect's egg hatching, probably the last weekend in April or the first week in May, McAninch said.
Last year gypsy moths defoliated 589,100 acres in Virginia, down from 748,000 acres in 1992. About 477,000 acres were defoliated in 1991, 594,000 in 1990 and 215,000 in 1989.
The defoliation weakens trees, making them susceptible to fatal diseases and infestations by wood-boring insects.
The gypsy moth infestation stretches from Northern Virginia over to the Shenandoah Valley, goes as far south as Rockbridge County and spreads across central Virginia to Tidewater.
McAninch said the gypsy moth war is settling into a routine.
"The program is similar to the way it's been run in the past four to five years," he said.
But the program in recent years switched from chemical insecticides to organic bacterial insecticides commonly used in gardens.
And the state Department of Forestry this year is working to create a computer-generated composite map of defoliated areas, producing the most accurate assessment yet of the damage caused by gypsy moths.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has doubled to four the number of private companies it has working on the problem. The federal government is funding a trapping program from the North Carolina border into Franklin County.
The gypsy moth was brought to the United States in 1869. Its habitat stretches from Michigan to North Carolina. The insect feeds predominantly on the oak tree; and in regions where the gypsy moth has lived for generations, forests have completely changed their compositions, replacing oaks with other tree species.
by CNB