Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

March 14, 2013

Randy Simons
Dan Keefe
518-486-1868

Allegany State Park to Hold Public Meeting on Gypsy Moth Spraying

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has scheduled a public meetings for Wednesday, March 27th at 7:00PM, at the classroom building at Camp Allegany to discuss proposed plans for gypsy moth suppression in the park this spring.

Park staff were alerted last fall of large numbers of adult gypsy moths laying eggs in the park. Egg mass counts were conducted in the high use and old growth areas in November with counts averaging over 5,000 egg masses/acre with some areas as high as 16,000/acre. The threshold normally used to indicate high levels of egg masses to prevent likely tree mortality is 1,000/acre. Due to the concerns over large scale tree defoliation and potential visitor impacts to public safety, State Parks is proposing to aerially spray Gypchek (a naturally occurring gypsy moth virus and an environmentally safe insecticide that is specific only to Gypsy Moths). Gypcheck would be sprayed over 1,050 acres of high use areas and 1,002 acres of old growth hemlock hardwood forest this spring. State Parks has applied to the USDA Forest Service for a grant for partial reimbursement of the cost of this treatment.

The meeting will include a presentation by staff on the proposed project and its environmental review and will provide opportunity for public comments. Written comments on the proposal will also be accepted until April 10, 2013. Written comments can be sent via US mail or e-mail to: Karen Terbush, NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Albany, NY 12238 or Karen.Terbush@parks.ny.gov.

Additional information, including a Project summary and map of areas proposed for treatment can be found at: http://nysparks.com/inside-our-agency/public-documents.aspx