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Ashland moth plan still faces comment By PAUL FATTIG ASHLAND � The Oregon Department of Agriculture wants to give residents another chance to discuss a proposed gypsy moth eradication project. The department, which proposes to spray a biological insecticide on 160 acres in Ashland this spring to halt a possible European gypsy moth infestation, has scheduled an additional public meeting on the program. The two-hour session will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Rogue River Room of the Stevenson Union at Southern Oregon University. A similar meeting was held in February. "We have had requests for more information," said department spokesman Bruce Pokarney. "Some people in the neighborhood weren�t able to make last month�s meeting. We also have others who are repeat customers who may have felt their questions weren�t answered. "We want to be as accommodating as possible," he added. "We want to make sure everyone has a chance to ask questions or comment." The project was proposed after six of the moths were trapped in Ashland last summer. The moths leave egg masses that hatch into leaf-eating larvae that can leave trees barren and susceptible to disease, he said. The area that would be sprayed is south of the university between Glenwood Drive and Indiana Street. About 230 residential properties and forested areas would be affected. A small buffer area on the perimeter of the eradication area would also receive some of the spray, although in lesser amounts than the spray area, Pokarney said. The spray � Bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki (Btk) � is a bacteria that affects only gypsy moth caterpillars, he said. If approved, the aerial spraying by helicopter would occur between late April and mid-May when the caterpillar is present. The proposal calls for three aerial applications of the spray. The department sprayed a 10-acre residential area in Ashland last spring after four gypsy moths were discovered near SOU the previous summer. The area to be sprayed this year is on the edge of the area sprayed last year. Last spring�s spraying was done by crews on the ground. A decision on the proposed spray program will likely be made at the end of this month, Pokarney said. "It�s important to hear the concerns of local residents," he said. "We�re trying to go to great lengths to make this a public process." Each May, the department sets out some 17,000 traps throughout Oregon to check whether gypsy moths are present. The traps contain a female sex hormone to attract male moths and a sticky substance to hold them. The detection program was created in the 1980s when more than 200,000 acres in Lane County were infested with an estimated 19,000 gypsy moths. The area was sprayed with the same insecticide being used in Ashland, Pokarney said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.