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
