Read to fly . . .
The ground crew loads some of the pheromone flakes into the applicator plane during the week-long gypsy moth spraying by Minnesota Department of Agriculture. The flakes are distributed in the treatment block and disrupt the male gypsy moth’s ability to locate the female gypsy moths.
Contributed Photo
The bright yellow planes flying over Carlton County this week are obvious. What isn't so easy to discern is their mission: Like barely visible confetti, the planes and their pilots were dropping tiny green flakes of a manmade pheromone designed to prevent the creation of any future generations of gypsy moths.
It was hard to miss the bright yellow planes swooping through the
skies of Carlton County this week, flying low, loud engines making them
even more noticeable. What wasn’t immediately obvious was their mission:
Like barely visible confetti, the planes and their pilots were dropping
tiny green flakes of a manmade pheromone designed to prevent the
creation of any future generations of gypsy moths.
With the
exception of Jay Cooke Park, it is the first time the Minnesota
Department of Agriculture has sprayed for gypsy moths – a non-native,
leaf-eating insect – in Carlton County. Lucy Hunt, the MDA entomologist
who’s been in charge of the state’s gypsy moth program since 2007, said
the eastern side of the state has been the front lines in the battle to
postpone the invasion for the past few years.
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