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DNR Seeking Comment on Proposal to Close Gypsy Moth Program
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 12/15/2017

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is seeking public comment on a proposal to close its gypsy moth suppression program due to diminishing need through a proposed change to rule NR 47.910. Public hearings will be held on December 19 at 11:00 a.m. at the DNR service centers in Fitchburg, Milwaukee, Green Bay and Eau Claire.

The invasive pest defoliates trees during its caterpillar stage. Designed to reduce occasional surges of gypsy moth populations in places where the insect is already established, the DNR Gypsy Moth suppression program is one of two state programs that succeeded in keeping gypsy moth numbers in check.

In recent years, the program has controlled gypsy moth infestations throughout the eastern two-thirds of Wisconsin where gypsy moth already exists.

"At the peak of its efforts in 2004, the department sprayed about 50,000 acres in eastern Wisconsin to control gypsy moth populations," said Andrea Diss-Torrance, a DNR plant pest and disease specialist. "Demand for suppression spraying has decreased since 2004 and, in 2017, DNR's suppression program treated just 188 privately owned acres in southcentral Wisconsin."

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture will continue its separate initiative to delay the introduction and spread of the insect into new areas in the western third of the state.


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