Published: May 09, 2007 11:56 am      

Cost share favored for moth spray

OAKLAND - Though the spraying of gypsy moths in Garrett County is still days away, the county commissioners agreed to work on a 50 percent cost share with residents who hadn't qualified through the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA), but had shown concern for their property.

"The issue is what to do with people who didn't fit in with the agriculture management program," Willie Lantz, Maryland Cooperative Extension agriculture and natural resources educator for Garrett County, said.

Because there are certain conditions that need to be met to qualify for the program, Lantz said there would still be homes in the area, some of whom had already expressed their concern over the gypsy moth problem on their property, including the number of homes nearby.

Through the MDA, Lantz said that 15,000 acres in the county would be covered.

Lantz said some of the people who had qualified through forest management were still going to have to pay $5 an acre for spraying, as opposed to the full $45, but there would still be those left with that full amount, with a total of around 500 acres not covered by an existing program.

"I think we should offer a 50-50 split," Commission chairman Ernie Gregg said.

Commissioner Fred Holliday agreed, saying that if these landowners who would not qualify but had previously requested spraying could be contacted, informing them that if they wanted the spraying done on their property, they would have to split the cost.

Lantz said that because the spraying is currently taking place in eastern and central Maryland and moving westward, it would be ideal to have a request already in place for those additional acres not under the state's order. He said that this way, the helicopters that are spraying would be able to immediately go from the work with the MDA to treating trees in areas outside of those qualifications.

Though the exact time-frame for the beginning of gypsy moth spraying in the county isn't exact with weather and flying conditions constant factors, Lantz said that as reports have come in of the eggs hatching, the treatments could hit the optimal time to prevent against the caterpillar's spread and infestation, which would be between one and two weeks from now.

Sarah Moses can be reached at smoses@times-news.com.