Gypsy moths - perennially unwelcome summer visitors that have defoliated entire forests along the upper East Coast - are back in Oregon.
Agriculture Department employees have placed 19,000 gypsy moth traps around the state, in an effort to stop the voracious insect in its tracks.
Gypsy moths usually reach the West Coast aboard recreational vehicles traveling from the 15 quarantine states in the Northeast.
"We're going overboard on the number of traps right now because the goal is always to stop these infestations before they can really spread," said Agriculture Department employee Gary Roemhildt. "Once gypsy moths get established, there's almost nothing they won't feed on."
Gypsy moths have turned up in Oregon almost annually since a first detection in Lake Oswego in 1979. Subsequent detections were largely limited to pockets within suburban areas of Salem, Gresham and Corvallis.
Then, swarms of male moths clogged traps near a Wilsonville RV Park in 1984. The count eventually topped 19,000, the largest outbreak ever recorded west of the Mississippi River.
Helicopters carrying tons of the biological agent Btk swept over neighborhoods and surrounding forest areas. The state's eradication program has remained in place since.
Nationally, millions of acres of forestland have been sprayed with pesticides over the past 20 years in efforts to limit damage. Widescale defoliation of dozens of tree and plant species is severe enough that the U.S. Forest Service is launching a national project to slow the spread of gypsy moths.
The project involves use of the same pheromone-scented traps now dotting virtually every portion of the state. Although most outbreaks in Oregon occur west of the Cascade Range, where the bulk of the population is, the state program also involves placing traps in even the most remote areas.
Nursery managers, overseeing an industry expected to rack up more than $800 million in wholesale sales this year, praise the effort.
"If there were no trapping program and no surveillance, it could become a real problem," said Cam Sivesind, communications manager for the Oregon Association of Nurseries. "History has shown that the system works."KATU News
