Chemtrails 911State to spray Santa Cruz County in bid to eradicate apple moth

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State to spray Santa Cruz County in bid to eradicate apple moth

By TOM RAGAN
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
September 26, 2007

lavendar is chemtrails911 comments

In early November and mostly in the dead of night, three state-owned airplanes will spray a synthetic scent of female moths across parts of Santa Cruz County and North Monterey County for six straight days, the California Department of Food and Agriculture said Tuesday.

It's the latest attempt to kill the light brown apple moth, whose voracious appetite is capable [fear fear fear - scared yet?] of causing millions of dollars of damage to California's crops, though to date it has not lived up to its reputation — at least not locally.

State agriculture officials, however, say the moth, detected so far in 11 counties along the Central Coast and Northern California, is capable [fear fear fear - scared yet?] of causing an estimated $160 million to $640 million in crop damage and the costs associated with controlling its spread per year.

As a result, the state has its sights set on the most heavily infested areas: Soquel, Live Oak, Santa Cruz, Capitola, Aptos, Scotts Valley, Las Lomas, Aromas, Prunedale and Salinas, said Steve Lyle, a spokesman with the state Department of Food and Agriculture in Sacramento [phone, 916-654-0462].

Eighty-seven percent of all the moths trapped across the state have been in those areas. [so the traps are working]

The plan is to confuse the moths by spraying what essentially is a scent of a female moth in the form of a synthetic pheromone. Odorless to humans, the scent confuses the male moths [or attracts them from all over the state because the moths think the babes are all here]. They follow it and lose track of the real female moths, thereby disrupting the mating cycle.

"We're talking about a synthetic pheromone that's odorless and has been used for over a decade in Australia — with no reports of adverse health or environmental effects," said Lyle. "This spray doesn't even hurt the moths. It just confuses them to the point where analysis causes paralysis and they don't know where to fly or how to find the real female moths" [ 6 days of spraying. The chemical will stay in the air for over 30 days thats a long time and doing it several times a year]

During the next few weeks, public hearings will be announced to inform residents and answer any questions about the six-day, $2.7 million project, which will use a trio of King Air Twin Turbine airplanes that have been retrofitted for spraying. [don't worry your voice won't matter anyways. Your just useless eaters, like Steve Lyle of CDFA said "The authority rests with the state, There is no vote" ]

The spraying, conducted 500 to 700 feet in the air, is scheduled to start on Nov. 4 and end Nov. 9 — between the hours of 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Although the spray, technically known as Check Mate LBAM-F, has been deemed harmless by the state, it has not come without controversy. [Let's see what else the USDA lies about.]

In Monterey County, where similar aerial spraying was carried out earlier this month, concerned citizens showed up in droves to public hearings to protest — but to no avail.

And it's doubtful that any sort of opposition will change the state's course of action in Santa Cruz County, Lyle said.

"The authority rests with the state," he added. "There is no vote" [ how dare you say that! This is America where the people make the decisions]

To date, the California Certified Organic Farmers and the Alliance for Food and Farming have gone on record supporting the aerial spraying. So has Pesticide Action Network, which called the pheromone the least hazardous of remedies and "far preferable" to the use of chemical pesticides.

The light brown apple moth — jokingly referred to as the "light brown everything moth" for its huge appetite — was first discovered in the U.S. in Berkeley in February in a professor's trap in his backyard.

Since then, the moth has managed to flutter its way into Santa Cruz County, long considered the most infected area of the state, with more than 6,000 moths trapped.

Isolated and detected mostly amid the region's nurseries, nursery growers are the ones who have suffered the greatest setbacks — not due to the bug's voracious appetite but to the restrictions placed on nursery shipments. State and federal quarantines restrict shipments, particularly out of country, where Canada has red-flagged the pest.

Some have had to temporarily shut down operations every time a moth is detected, having no recourse but to spray their plants with pesticides as a prerequisite of reopening [some are even making more money by selling pesticides to growers that are forced to spray their crops].

Some growers have a hunch the moth had been around for at least two years before its presence was verified. They think the state and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are overreacting to the presence of an insect whose greatest financial inflictions have occurred abroad.

Jeff Rosendale, the owner of Sierra Azul Nursery in Watsonville, has come up with a sort of catchphrase to describe the events and the situation, saying the light brown apple moth's destruction may very well be an illusion — "and not a moth of mass destruction"

"We, of course, disagree," Lyle said.

He added the state plans to conduct more treatments in the spring and for several years until the moth is completely eradicated. Treatments are effective for 30 days.

And while the state identifies all of Santa Cruz County as well as Monterey County from Salinas north for spraying, no timeline has been set for the remainder of the areas.

"Any one area within this population center is likely to receive at least two and probably several treatments until it is determined that LBAM [light brown apple moth] has been eradicated from the site," according to an environmental assessment report issued by the state. "Complete eradication within the Santa Cruz and Northern Monterey area is expected to take several years"

Contact Tom Ragan at tragan@santacruzsentinel.com

Light brown apple moth spraying

WHERE: Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz, Capitola, Live Oak, Soquel, Aptos, Las Lomas, Aromas, Prunedale and Salinas.

WHEN: 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Nov. 4-9.

Why: Control breeding of light brown apple moth.

COST: $2.7 million.

Information: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/ea/downloads/lbam_ea_sc.pdf

You can find this story online at:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/September/26/local/stories/01local.htm

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