As promised earlier this year, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) will be holding meetings in Lake and Cook County to get the public’s input on a proposed quarantine “for the restricted movement of certain articles at risk for spreading gypsy moths.”
For decades the MDA has been tracking and treating gypsy moths in Minnesota, but in 2013 a record 71,258 moths were captured, with 90 percent of those located in Cook and Lake County.
In an effort to slow the spread of the voracious little leaf-eating moths, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has proposed a quarantine on “regulated articles” for Cook and Lake counties.
Regulated articles include logs, pulpwood, bark products; trees and woody shrubs with roots (nursery stock) and trees without roots (Christmas trees), mobile homes and any other articles that may spread gypsy moths to non-infested areas.
All of these products would have to be inspected and certified before being shipped, and during certain times of the year sawmills would have to process wood bought from quarantine areas within five days.
According to Lucia Hunt, gypsy moth unit supervisor for the MDA, the quarantine is designed to limit the movement of high-risk materials but, at the same time, provide options for transferring products like logs pest-free without restricting the sales or purchase of these items.
“There are no restrictions on moving regulated articles within the quarantine area,” said Hunt.
But loggers and mill owners that sell their products outside of the quarantine area will have to have compliance agreements. These are documents that are prepared and agreed to by the MDA and the company and must be finalized before any regulated items like logs can be transported outside of the quarantine area. Sales out of state will require an additional United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) federal certification.
“There is no cost (to sawmill owners or loggers) to get compliance agreements,” said Hunt, adding, “We are trying to make this as easy for business as possible while recognizing our responsibilities to the public.”
However, said Hunt, violators of the compliance agreement will be fined $7,500 per day.
With no natural predators in the U.S., this invasive species, which was brought from Europe to the Boston area in 1869, has slowly eaten its way through most of the northeastern and midwestern United States and parts of Canada. Since 1973 the MDA, in conjunction with federal, state, tribal, and local officials, has been trying to slow the growth of gypsy moth populations in Minnesota. Cook County has been monitored since 2004 and treated since 2006. Despite best efforts, the moth population has continued to spread and grown to a point where treatments are no longer effective.
“They (gypsy moths) are not stopping at the borders of Lake and Cook County. This program is designed to slow the human spread of gypsy moths, to delay that movement as long as possible,” said Hunt.
It’s not just the sawmills and loggers that need to pay attention to stopping the spread of the moths, said Hunt. Citizens and businesses can do their part by making sure not to transfer the moths or their larvae out of the area.
Hunt gave an example of the destruction that these moths can have on a forest. In 2005 and 2009 large infestations of gypsy moths killed 380,000 acres of oak trees on state-owned land in Pennsylvania. Those trees were valued at $25 million, “but with that mortality, they were only able to squeeze half of that
(money) out of the sales of those trees,” she said.
There is also the aesthetic loss, said Hunt. The gypsy moth larvae defoliate trees, stripping them and leaving them bare. In terms of dollars and cents, “How do you calculate that?” she asked.
The MDA will respond to all comments received during the
30-day period and the agency will work with a wide variety of stakeholders through the decision making process. After that changes can be made with the proposed quarantine language.
“Each comment will be read, reviewed and considered and all responses will be responded to directly and forwarded to the Commissioner of Agriculture for review,” Hunt said.
The quarantine is scheduled to go into effect March 31, 2014, said Hunt.
If you can’t make a meeting, comments can be e-mailed to gypsy. moth@state.mn.us or written comments can be mailed to: Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Gypsy Moth Quarantine Comments, 625 Robert St. N., St. Paul, MN. 55155. The comment deadline is February 25, 2014.
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