SEATTLE -- What is shaping up to be the state's largest battle yet against the destructive gypsy moth starts Saturday morning in Tacoma. Pesticides will be falling from the sky across Western Washington.
State department of agriculture officials are especially concerned about the Asian gypsy moth. Experts say those pests are trying to gain a foothold in Washington state. They are infamous for devouring forests and are suspected of arriving in Washington state at ports via container ships.
"The Asian gypsy moth isn't established anywhere in North America,” said Washington State Dept. of Agriculture spokesperson Hector Castro. “If we can't stop it here in the Pacific Northwest, we would essentially be providing a gateway for a really destructive pest to move into the rest of the United States."
In the eastern United States, trees covering hundreds of thousands of acres have been devoured by European gypsy moths. To make sure that doesn't happen in Washington, an extermination plan calls for aerial droppings of an organic bacteria pesticide called BTK. The state says there's no risk to humans or other animals, but the application is deadly to all caterpillars-- not just the soon-to-be gypsy moths.
The work should cost about $5.5 million, coming from state and federal funds. An airplane will start dropping the pesticide Saturday morning at dawn over the Port of Tacoma. Then, over the course of the next month, there will be droppings over Vancouver, Nisqually, Lacey, Gig Harbor, Kent and Seattle's Capitol Hill.
"The application is in a pretty fine mist,” said Castro. “People likely may not see anything coming out. They'll see a plane flying pretty low overhead at about 250 feet off the ground.”
The aerial treatment is weather dependent. Conditions need to be clear of rain and fog. For information on when droppings could happen where you live, click here.
