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.
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.
Maybe these flakes will attract gypsy moth to the county. Way to go MN-DNR! Also, if gypsy moth is found in Carlton County what will the DNR do? They have minimal base line data on the Lepidoptera in Carlton County and so cannot predict what the effects of bombarding the forests with Bt or other insecticides will be. There was a study conducted between 2006 and 2008 by the MN-DNR at 13 state parks from the southeast of the state to the northeast of the state. Oddly, Jay Cooke State Park in Carlton County was not included. For the record, there are at least 685 moth species in Carlton County. Bt will be devasting for many of these species. By the way, I've been documenting moths here in my part of Carlton County since 2000 and have not yet seen any gypsy moths or their larvae. Each year the DNR puts out gypsy moth traps on my land and they never have any in them. I shudder to think what the response will be if one or more is found as many native moths (some rare) will die from the Bt poisoning campaign.
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