While at the moment we do not have a Gypsy Moth section on our site, we have known that that is likely to be the next major “pest” program in line for us in CA. Trapping is already underway, Kawamura, Sec’y of Ag. for the state has several times invoked it over this year at LBAM events as another “pest of concern”, and yes it does eat leaves. Eating leaves does not mean that there will be deforestation. We need not to use pesticides which will kill off its predators. That’s key.

I talked with a teenaged boy, and another boy, maybe 12. I told them we were delighted to see this and that I was concerned that neighbors might push them to “get rid of the bees”, which often happens via pesticides.

We had a great talk, and I told them about the fact of bees being endangered worldwide, told them I work with this group which has worked for years to get out that information, and told them that if neighbors come at their family to “get rid of” the bees, that they could remind these people first that these bees won’t bother people unless threatened, and that by allowing the bees to do their work people in the neighborhood with fruit trees would have a chance at having fruit.

They seemed in awe of some of the information, and as I walked away, I thought about how probably all the kids in the neighborhood had been raised on Winnie the Pooh stories, and I wondered whether any of them made the connection, that what is played up in story form in books and movies they could see in their own neighborhood, and how grand!

When I told my sister about the hive, she said that, oh, yes, there have been a lot of hives in those trees on that street and people usually plug them.

I was sickened.

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1996/12-13-1996/bomb.html

The ridiculous part is that our tax dollars paid for this research.

So, in the end the insects will win this eradication battle. It’s just a matter of which battle the USDA/CDFA will wage.

My concerns are that there are some nasty insects that decimate trees (gypsy moth) and cause health problems (mosquitos - West Nile virus, malaria, etc.), which this bug war has no end in sight.

Bad moon rising . . .

Nature has checks and balances, and the way our Constitution was written, we’re supposed to have them too…

I love your suggestion that the CDFA become the CDOFA. I’m sure they are concerned about their own job security and putting food on the table for their families (even if it is laced with poison that kills them softly over the years). But, why do they have to have these emergency eradication programs in place to get their funding (one bug after another)??? We’re always going to be at threat level orange or red with a specific terrorist bug to vilify as long as the “O” for organic is missing from their name and mission statement.

If they change their mission to truly promote healthy and sustainable agriculture, I would gladly fund their efforts and support them! The farmers deserve to make a good living for providing us healthy food. And the CDFA staff should deserve to put that healthy food on the table for their families.

I just think they might be surprised to find it even harder to grow crops on the moon, despite the lack of bugs…

But seriously, I am so bewildered by these people with their only response to life seeming to be, ‘kill it’. We’ve got the CDFA trying to kill bugs. We’ve the the National and State park employees killing millions of animals every year because they’re ‘non-native’.

The whole concept of ‘invasive’ animals, bugs and plants is ludicrous. How can anything that lives on the earth be considered an invader? These creatures aren’t a shipload of bloodthirsty vikings, or Martians landing from outer space.

Most of what we see, including all of the human beings, came from someplace else at one time. Sand comes down from the rocks, goes into the sea and then comes back onto the land again. There is always, always movement. Only a fool would try to control this.

Thanks for your comment!
Mim