On Friday, September 4, 2015 the Department of Agriculture’s Animals and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) adopted, as final, an interim rule that called for a ban on the interstate movement of regulated articles like logs, Christmas trees, pulpwood, bark, etc. that might carry gypsy moths or their larvae from Cook and Lake County.
The move by APHIS follows that of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), which placed a gypsy moth quarantine on Lake and Cook counties in the spring of 2014 to restrict movement of potentially infested items and thereby slow the spread of the moths.
This final ruling follows earlier restrictions that prohibit interstate movement of regulated articles, which also includes mobile homes, nursery stock, boats, and outdoor household articles.
The interim rule was published in the Federal Register March 12, 2015 and called for a public comment period. Only two statements were received by the May 11 comment deadline, and both supported the interim rule.
Because of their destructiveness, gypsy moth caterpillars have harmed large areas of forests and caused millions of dollars of damage as they defoliate trees and plants. Brought in from Europe accidentally in 1868 to Boston, gypsy moths slowly spread. Because they are so numerous and have few predators, they move almost unimpeded, slowly making their way across the country. Over the last 20 years millions of acres have been treated to slow the spread of gypsy moths. But still the moths are winning, advancing along as they forage on leaves.
Each caterpillar can eat about nine square feet of foliage and while the moths can be found in many parts of the state, they have established a stronghold in the Tip of the Arrowhead, despite attempts to slow their spread starting in 2006 with the aerial spraying of a sex pheromone—a biological signaling chemical—that disrupts gypsy moths’ breeding by confusing the males.
Cook and Lake counties were the first quarantined in the state, and Minnesota was the 21st state to completely or partially quarantine for gypsy moths. Other states affected by the rule include areas in Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Wisconsin.
During the study, every year people were hired to trap gypsy moths and over the years the number of moths in certain areas in Lake and Cook counties increased.
Results of the 2013 trapping survey showed more than 71,258 gypsy moths in the state, with 62,243 of those in Cook and Lake counties. In 2009 trappers caught 27,000 moths across the whole state of Minnesota.
Once the MDA quarantine was enacted, it required loggers and designated lumber mill workers to take compliance agreement training and follow those guidelines or potentially face penalties.
Howard Hedstrom, president of Hedstrom Lumber Company came before the county board in April 2015 to give an update on the pending gypsy moth quarantine and he had some good news.
“The forest service industry has negotiated a new agreement (with the MDA) with how we transport and how we store wood,” Hedstrom said.
“With the old agreements, we would be severely hurt, but the MDA is putting together new [compliance] agreements. They have loosened up and made compliance agreements that are acceptable to store and utilize raw materials and won’t be a deterrent to us,” Hedstrom said.
The MDA agreed to use Hedstrom’s mill as a test site to see if the bark carries any gypsy moth eggs after going through the mill’s processing. “They have the capability of bringing in moths that lay egg masses and they will check them. I’m not sure if they are looking for zero risk or a diminished risk, but I think they are looking for a greatly reduced risk,” said Hedstrom at the time.
Since then, Hedstrom said they have seen no impact from gypsy moths and results for MDA testing have been negative. “I wish they would get rid of the rule, period. There aren’t enough gypsy moths in Cook County to worry about,” Hedstrom said recently.
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