SGMC Speaks to the County Commission 4/6/06

[campbell]

Several of us from the committee presented to the Jefferson County Commission today to express our concerns about the gypsy moth suppression efforts being eliminated starting in 2007. We explained that the landowner's cost would double to have our property treated since we would not get the cost share from the Feds. (FYI - if all of Shannondale and River View Park had to be sprayed next year the cost would be around $65,000 at $20 an acre). We also expressed our concern about the potential loss of technical support from the WVDA such as egg mass surveys, mapping, contracting and coordinating of spraying. The Commissioners seemed to understand the serious consequences we all face from these cuts and voted unanimously to contact our U.S. and State Representatives. We urge that everyone on the mountain do the same and the contact information can be found under the topic in the SGMC forum - Sample Letter (call for action). Dale suggested that the two important representatives to contact were Byrd and Mollohan.
The Commissioners also agreed to contact the USDA-FS Forest Health Protection since our understanding is that these cuts are coming from them. We encourage everone to also contact the Director of USDA-FS Forest Health Protection and remind him that we are experiencing more mortality in our forests now than we have ever experienced 25+ years after the gypsy moths first moved into the state. Also remind him that it is a know fact that there is an 80% hardwood tree mortality after several years of defoliation by gypsy moth caterpillars. The Director is Robert Mangold -703-605-5340 or 202-744-0257 or [email protected] Please write or call these people - It's numbers that count!!