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State to ‘mass trap’ Crown Hill neighborhood of Seattle for gypsy moth
 

OLYMPIA – The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) today announced a “mass trapping” project for the Crown Hill neighborhood of Seattle in an effort to control the very destructive gypsy moth. Although eight moths were caught in Crown Hill last summer – the largest number from any single site in Washington – state entomologists have not determined that a reproducing population is present in Crown Hill.

“We strongly suspect a reproducing population may be present in Crown Hill,” explained Chad Phillips, WSDA gypsy moth eradication coordinator. “We just don’t have the evidence at this time.”

Up to a thousand small, tent-shaped cardboard traps will be placed in a four-square mile area bounded by NW 24th Ave., Aurora Ave. N., NW 98th St., and NW 59th St. The majority of traps will be placed at a rate of approximately nine traps per acre in an approximate 60-acre zone in the middle of the four-square mile area.

The traps will be installed in early June and removed in September. Throughout the summer and early fall the traps will be checked every two weeks.

Trapping results will be evaluated in the fall.

The Crown Hill traps are part of the WSDA’s gypsy moth summer trapping program. Statewide, more than 24,000 traps will be placed on trees to determine if any new introductions of gypsy moth have occurred.

The gypsy moth is one of the worst forest pest insects ever brought into the U.S. The moth attacks more than 500 species of trees and shrubs, causing millions of dollars of environmental and economic damage in the U.S. annually. The moth is permanently established in 19 states in the East and upper Midwest.

The gypsy moth has been detected in Washington state every year since 1977, but permanent populations have not been established because of aggressive trapping and eradication programs. Eradication treatments were conducted this spring in the Madison area of Seattle and the Rosemont neighborhood in Bellevue where reproducing populations were detected.

For more information on the state’s gypsy moth control program, call the agency’s toll-free hotline
(1-800-443-6684) or go to the WSDA Web site at www.agr.wa.gov/PlantsInsects/InsectPests/GypsyMoth/default.htm.

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