Published: October 01, 2008 08:25 am         

Garrett sees drop in defoliation due to gypsy moths

OAKLAND — Gypsy moth suppression efforts have decreased the amount of defoliation for 2008, but after several years of dealing with the pest, there have been about 6,000 acres in timber mortality.

“We had 68,000 acres (of deforestation) last year and 19,000 this year,” said Biff Thompson, Maryland Department of Agriculture Forest Pest Management. “The state sprayed 45,000 acres. If we had counted on the virus and the fungus, we have severe defoliation.”

Thompson told the Garrett County commissioners on Tuesday this was because both the fungus and the virus hit later in the spring.

The dead timber, Thompson said, may have other uses, though some of the wood may be a loss, as it may be too dry for use as pulp wood. The benefit is now knowing where dead trees are located, so that future spraying will not be wasted on those areas, he said.

Thompson reported that across the state, a total of 99,222 acres were sprayed, with 32,257 covered in Garrett County and 12,136 in Allegany County.

He said that in Garrett only two of the sprayed areas showed defoliation, showing the spraying worked better than previous years when warm weather seemed to be against the effectiveness of the pesticides.

When compared to nearby states that have increased their defoliation by thousands of acres from the pests, Thompson felt Maryland showed good progress in suppression efforts as not only residential but wildland areas were sprayed this year.

The only potential problem is the proximity to other states that have experienced great defoliation, such as Pennsylvania, which he said has found 1 million acres of forest land without leaves due to the gypsy moth caterpillars. Thompson said he would be asking nearby states for maps of their defoliated areas in order to find out how close they were to Maryland borders.

Commissioner Fred Holliday said he felt this would be a great help in the prevention efforts.

Holliday also recognized the Maryland Cooperative Extension Office in Garrett County for its work in pooling together private landowners whose properties were sprayed as well through a cost share with the county.

Willie Lantz, extension educator, said the cost share proved to be a success and that there were 168 contracts developed for the spraying with landowners putting in $265,800 toward getting their land protected from the pests.

Chuck Hoffeditz, chairman of the Garrett County Forestry Conservancy Board, said he hoped the state continued to take gypsy moths seriously, including ensuring that departments could know well ahead of time there would be funds available to secure a company to do the spraying.

“It’s important for us to recognize the need to convince the state to have the money in advance,” Hoffeditz said.

Contact Sarah Moses at smoses@times-news.com.