|
Posted: 10:42 AM Aug 27, 2008
Gypsy Moth in the Mountain State
The destructive European gypsy moth is munching its way across U.S. forests. Reporter: Associated PressEmail Address: will.jones@wsaz.com |
|
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The destructive European gypsy moth is
munching its way across U.S. forests.
The voracious plant-eating moths stretch from Wisconsin to North
Carolina.
West Virginia, Virginia and other mid-Atlantic states are seeing
especially bad pockets of infestations this year.
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
spokeswoman Elaine Lidholm says the moths have defoliated 112,340
acres in her state. That's an increase of almost 39,000 acres over
last year's total.
In West Virginia, Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass says the
moths have devoured about 81,000 acres of forest, up from nearly
78,000 acres last year.
A single caterpillar can eat a square meter of foliage, weakening its victims and making them more susceptible to other pests and diseases. Successive defoliation can kill plants.





