By Stephen Smoot
Science wedded to business brought the species over to build an industry, but in short order discovered that unchecked numbers of them could quickly denude trees. Now state and federal officials maintain vigilance against their depredations and are asking for West Virginia landowners’ help.
According to the Smithsonian Institute, “the Gypsy Moth (called by some the spongy moth) was imported into the United States in the mid nineteenth century with the intent of finding a species of silk producing moth that could be hybridized to compete favorably with the Silkworm Moth, yet not be subject to the many diseases that the Silkworm Moth suffered in cultures.”
Leopold Trouvelot of Medford, Massachusetts, in the time before strict controls on potentially invasive species crossing the border, accidentally allowed several to escape sometime in 1868 and 1869. Within a decade, the escaped population had grown fruitful, multiplied, and relieved the trees in his neighborhood of their foliage.
Since then, the European Gypsy Moth has expanded its reach. The forests of the eastern United States bear tree species that this particular pest prefers. The United States Department of Agriculture has established a quarantine zone that extends from the North Carolina and Virginia border to the Maine/Canada line. It also extends as far west as Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota.
Officials of the USDA say, “It is considered to be a permanent resident in all or parts of 19 states and the District of Columbia.”
About four-fifths of West Virginia counties lie under the same quarantine, excluding Mason, Roane, Kanawha, Putnam, Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln, Boone, Logan, and Mingo. Federal authorities, with the cooperation of state agencies, operate eradication, “slow the spread,” and suppression operations.
Scott Hoffman, with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture’s New Creek office in Mineral County, noted that “we’re seeing new egg masses in Hardy and southern Hampshire” but that this year “with all the rain we’ve been getting, it’s not going to be as bad” in most areas. Large amounts of rain help to “collapse” new growths of the pest.
Information has also come in recently from field work in Pendleton County, but as of press time had not yet come into their office for analysis.
Until the end of August, Kent Leonhardt, West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture, has urged landowners to consider participating in gypsy moth control programs. “From tourism to our timber industry,” noted Leonhardt in a release, “our forests are an important economic driver.”
Individual landowners would need to pay a deposit of $5 an acre up to $3,000 and $10,000 for residential developments. Homeowners’ associations could face additional restrictions. Landowners must have “50 contiguous acres of woodland.”
Applications are available through local West Virginia University Extension offices or WVDA offices in Charleston or New Creek, Mineral County.
