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In North America, management of the gypsy moth has taken two different forms depending
on the history of the infestations.
In areas of the continent where the gypsy moth is permanently established, management
has concentrated on minimizing the impact on the forests and the public usually
through large scale aerial spraying of Btk and long term alternatives like introducing
biological controls. For more information on the strategies used in the eastern United
States, visit the US Forest Service's "Slow the
Spread" website. Gypsy moth treatments are used to slow spread,
minimize the degree of discomfort to people in the infested areas, and reduce damage to
valuable host trees.
In areas that do not have established gypsy moth populations, like British Columbia,
pheromone traps are used to monitor and detect new introductions. Following the
initial detection, the population is either monitored for another year or is treated. Treatment
methods have the objective to quickly eradicate the introduced population while it
is still very small. The latter strategy describes the gypsy moth situation in all of the
other provinces and states where the gypsy moth is not permanently established.
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Management Objectives
There are no permanent populations of gypsy moths of any kind in British Columbia. The
insect arrives inadvertently on personal and commercial goods and on the vehicles that
transport them. The management objective is to reduce the number of gypsy moth entering
the province and to eradicate any that do before they become permanently established.
The historical account of gypsy moth detection and
eradication efforts demonstrates that this insect has been introduced many times into the
province through the movement of materials carrying egg masses, larvae or pupae from
infested areas of North America.
Keeping the province free from gypsy moths involves seven activities:
- Prevent shipment of or intercept, commercial goods and vehicles infested with
life stages of gypsy moths. This activity is presently the responsibility of the Canadian
Food Inspection Agency who have established regulated areas to minimize the risk of spread
of known gypsy moth populations. Click on the Status of regulated
areas to obtain more information.
- Detect newly introduced populations through a province-wide inter-agency
detection program. Click here for more information on the
detection program.
- Eradicate new introduced populations when detected before they become widely
established and impossible to eradicate. Click on this link to obtain a more detailed
description of the Eradication Strategy
- Develop cost effective and timely methods to prevent shipments of infested
personal goods when people move to British Columbia from areas permanently infested with
gypsy moths.
- Inform, in association with the B.C. Plant Protection Advisory Council
(BCPPAC),
the public, affected industries and officials of the threat gypsy moths pose to people,
environments, and the plant growth and tourism industries of British Columbia.
- Seek new, proven, practical and environmentally sound methods of eradicating
gypsy moths that further reduce effects on non-target moths and butterflies.
- Maintain communication systems to ensure advance knowledge of outbreaks of gypsy
moths wherever they occur in the world so as to respond quickly to the increased threat of
introduction such outbreaks produce.
Source: Fraser, B.D. and Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada. 1994.
Draft Management Plan for the North American Gypsy Moth in British Columbia. 35 pp.
For a complete description of management options for gypsy moth in North America,
please refer to "A Sourcebook for Management of Gypsy Moth" by V.G. Nealis and
S. Erb available from the Pacific
Forestry Centre Bookstore, Canadian Forest Service.
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