The government concedes it can’t get rid of a pest that’s been killing
trees. But it has a program that’s slowing its spread. Fred Kight
reports federal and state officials are using a pesticide on the tree-
killing gypsy moth in 10 states:
Transcript
The government concedes it can’t get rid of a pest that’s been killing
trees. But it has a program that’s slowing its spread. Fred Kight
reports federal and state officials are using a pesticide on the tree-
killing gypsy moth in 10 states:
The Slow the Spread Project is run by the US Forest Service and Donna
Leonard is the program manager. She says they focus on hindering the
gypsy moth’s advance into new territory:
“…And for the past five or six years, we’ve been holding spread at
about two to three miles per year, compared to 13 miles per year, which
is the rate it was spreading before we started.”
The tactic employed against the gypsy moth in the spring is aerial
spraying of pesticide, and for the most part they use a naturally
occurring soil bacteria commonly referred to as BTK.
A Sierra Club activist says BTK is far preferable to synthetic
pesticides but it can be a problem because it can kill other bugs, too.
For the Environment Report, I’m Fred Kight.