Hello camps,
Just a heads up- there will be spraying happening today around 5-ish pm to help prevent feeding damage from the spongy moth caterpillars. The time the spraying is taking place is a rough estimate; it could happen before or after this time.
If you happen to be here at your camp around this time, please be prepared to head inside while this is occurring.
All the best,
Kat Lentini
Group Camps Office Manager | Harriman State Park
Hi Directors and Camp Support staff,
As discussed at the recent Camp Director’s Meeting, the park plans to do treatments by helicopter for spongy moth control again this year. The project’s goal is to protect canopy trees at your camps from spongy moth caterpillar defoliation. The work is weather dependent. It must be done during dry weather and will be scheduled for weekdays. Each camp will receive two treatments applied 4-7 days apart. We aim to have this project wrapped up in next 10-14 days.
We are using Btk, a naturally occurring soil bacteria, that is effective at killing spongy moth caterpillars. The product is not harmful to people but we recommend that anyone in the camps either vacate briefly or remain indoors until the fine mist settles on vegetation. The contractor is spraying at a rate of ½ gallon per acre, so the material is barely noticeable during or after spraying. Spraying itself does not take long – and will amount to a few passes over the camp.
It is difficult to predict the exact timing of the work given it is weather dependent. The current forecast may allow for a first treatment tomorrow afternoon, but we will need to make that call tomorrow morning. I will send email updates to this group and the camp office. I know internet connectivity is a problem for some areas, so we will send Natural Resource staff to your camps 1-2 hours prior to spraying to alert staff about the exact treatment time window.
Thanks for your cooperation and flexibility on this. If you have any questions, feel free to call or text me at the cell below.
Thanks,
Ed
Ed McGowan
Assistant District Manager, Hudson Valley Environmental Stewardship District
NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Palisades Interstate Park Commission
Bear Mountain, NY 10524
(845) 925-2142 | edwin.mcgowan@parks,ny.gov
Hi everyone, just want to let you all know that the park will be spraying for the spongy moths this afternoon and distributing the substance via helicopter. They gave us incredibly short notice, so we’re doing everything we can to share this information with members to make sure that no one is on site
The weather has improved to allow us to do a treatment this afternoon. Our stewardship crew has been making the rounds over the past few hours to alert camp staff to this. The contractor is aiming to treat all camps this afternoon. Assuming they are successful, the second treatment will be sometime next week.
I apologize for the short notice. I was in the field with the crew with limited cell service.
A huge round of applause to our Nawakwans and Applicants who visited camp to help with the Spring Cleanup on Opening Day.
We’re a community and without everyone’s hard work, we wouldn’t be able to prepare camp for the new season. Thank you for all your efforts on cleaning the cabins, raking all pathways, getting the kayaks and boat storage ready, moving the swim dock, and everything else that needs to be taken care of for the upcoming season. Thanks to our hosts for a great lunch too!
Founded in 1923, the Nawakwa Outdoor Association of New York, Inc. is a membership organization dedicated to the enjoyment of the outdoors through hiking, walking, camping, swimming, skiing, sailing, canoeing, and kayaking, and to the conservation and preservation of our wilderness, particularly the mountains, lakes, trails, and camping areas of the metropolitan New York region.
