NJ: GYPSY MOTH SUPPRESSION PROGRAM REDUCES TREE DAMAGE
News Date July 21, 2009
New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher recently announced the amount of tree damage caused by gypsy moth caterpillars this spring decreased for the first time since 2003.
The New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s annual gypsy moth aerial defoliation survey showed 91,890 acres of trees experienced some level of leaf loss in the state this year, as compared with 339,240 acres last year. The 2009 Gypsy Moth Aerial Spray program included 15 counties, 55 municipalities and 11 agencies with spraying on 35,816 acres of wooded residential and park land, wooded areas along the Garden State Parkway and areas of Earle Naval Weapons Station. This year, the United State Forest Service provided cost reimbursement funds to municipalities participating the Department of Agriculture’s spray program. For more information on New Jersey’s gypsy moth suppression program, click here. Also, for national gypsy moth material, click here. (Contact: Lynne Richmond at: (609) 633-2954 or Lynne.Richmond@ag.state.nj.us.)