Gypsy Moths Take Their Toll ; Paramus Defoliation Surprises Officials
By JIM WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
Gypsy moth caterpillars defoliated more than 320,000 acres of trees in the state this year, including 835 acres in North Jersey, state officials said Thursday.
“This year’s defoliation is the highest since 1990, when 431,000 acres were defoliated, and more than double what we experienced last year,” said state Secretary of Agriculture Charles Kuperus.
He promised to “utilize every method available to us to suppress gypsy moths” to save trees.
In Passaic County, gypsy moths caused severe damage to 418 acres in Wanaque and 214 acres in Bloomingdale. In Morris County, the moths ate their way through 129 acres, state officials said.
In Bergen County, the state said 74 acres in Paramus suffered severe damage, which surprised local officials.
“I knew we had some infestation, including near Memorial Elementary School, but not that much,” said Bill Comery, Paramus’ superintendent of shade tree and parks.
Last year, there had been no reports of gypsy moth damage in Bergen County.
The gypsy moth population exploded this year and caused more damage because the dry spring weather kept a moisture-dependent fungus from naturally killing off the caterpillars. The April nor’easter did not come at the right time for the fungus to kill the caterpillars, officials said.
The moths wreak havoc when they are caterpillars, from late April to early July. They have voracious appetites and can strip trees of most of their leaves, killing trees that are attacked several years in a row.
Overall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the caterpillars defoliate millions of acres of trees every year in a region that reaches from Wisconsin to New England to North Carolina.
In all, 124 municipalities in 19 counties in New Jersey were affected this year. Sussex County had the most widespread damage, with nearly 97,000 acres affected, mostly on state and federally owned land.
“Last week I flew in an airplane along the ridge from the Delaware Water Gap to roughly the Culver’s Lake area, and the damage was devastating,” said Sussex County Administrator John Eskilson. “The amount of denuded trees along the ridge was an incredible sight.”
The damage estimates were based on an aerial survey conducted by the state last month to help officials plan eradication efforts next spring.
This year, the U.S. Forest Service provided $1.5 million to reimburse New Jersey municipalities for half their costs of aerial spraying to control the caterpillars. No aerial spraying was done in Bergen, Passaic or Morris counties this year.
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Fast facts
* Only the caterpillar stage of the gypsy moth is destructive. They feed from late April to early July.
* The caterpillars prefer oaks, apple, linden and willow, but may attack other hardwoods as well.
* A native of Europe, Asia and North Africa, the gypsy moth was introduced into Massachusetts in 1869 by a French naturalist experimenting with silkworms. They are now found throughout the Northeast.
* To help control gypsy moths, destroy egg masses from August to late April by scraping them off with a putty knife, put them in a container and burn them.
* The worst year for gypsy moth infestation in New Jersey was 1981, when nearly 800,000 acres were damaged.
Sources: Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension, University of Rhode Island Landscape Horticulture Program
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E-mail: wright@northjersey.com
(c) 2007 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.