Published: December 22, 2007 11:34 pm         

Gypsy moth battle

CUMBERLAND — In the world of gypsy moths, it seems that several thousand can be quite a crowd.

That crowding, and favorable climatic conditions, has resulted in an apparent eastward infestation from Garrett County into Allegany and Washington counties, according to a statement released by Robert Tichenor, chief of the state Department of Agriculture’s forest pest management service.

The number of egg masses on tree trunks in the area are on the rise, he said.

But locally, Carl Robinette, district conservationist for Allegany County with the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, wonders whether federal or state funding will be enough to spray the areas this spring.

This past year, Robinette told several residents that funding would be available through the NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentive Program to spray public and certain private properties with large infestations.

In the middle of the public sign-up period, Robinette said, “We got word from the national office (they) weren’t going to allow that.”

Susan Ford, an agriculture inspector with the Western Region Office of the Maryland Department of Agriculture in Cumberland, said her agency faced similar funding problems in 2007. Ford said she doesn’t yet know how much funding will be available for spraying in 2008.

Robinette said while he supports the official position of the NRCS national headquarters, he hopes “our political friends would pick that up, and congressmen and senators would hook onto that (issue) and say, ‘Hey, let’s go back and take another look at this.’”

The gypsy moth problem is not new to Allegany County, Ford said.

From 1984 through 1993, the county had 160,789 acres of defoliated trees, an average of more than 16,000 acres per year. That figure included a high of 53,518 acres in 1984 and more than 21,000 acres each in 1986, 1987 and 1990.

From 2002 to 2006, the gypsy moth population in Allegany County wasn’t large enough to attract the attention of conservationists and inspectors, Ford said.

“When I first started, we had a big problem,” said Ford, a 21-year veteran in the office. “It’s nothing new. It’s not been so much of a problem lately.”

While gypsy moth caterpillars in Garrett County had stripped nearly 45,000 acres of trees — or defoliated — this year, Allegany County had just 6,575 acres. Gypsy moths, native to Europe, have no natural predator in the U.S., Ford said.

A naturally produced fungus, Entomophaga maimaiga, can help kill egg masses but only if springtime weather is moist. In 2007, the climate was dry and ripe for gypsy moth egg masses, Ford said, which led to a larger than usual problem for Allegany County.

Ford said preliminary results of recently surveyed areas in eastern Allegany County seem to suggest gypsy moth hot spots in the forest near the Town Hill Bed and Breakfast, Polish Mountain and one spot atop Rocky Gap State Park on Evitts Mountain.

Those areas are ripe for spraying, Ford said, as long as funding comes through. Each appear to meet last year’s standards of 25 egg masses per one-fortieth of an acre, or 1,000 per acre. Ford said those standards are subject to change each spraying season, which begins in late April or early May just after the gypsy moth caterpillar eggs hatch.

To kill the caterpillars, they must eat the leaves sprayed with the insecticide, she said.

If a property owner believes they have a gypsy moth problem, they should call the Cumberland office of the Maryland Department of Agriculture at (301) 777-3601 or visit www.mda.state.md.us for more information.

Kevin Spradlin can be reached at kspradlin@times-news.com.