Final Gypsy Moth Treatments of 2006 Scheduled

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Department of Agriculture is scheduled to apply pheromone flakes to parts of six northern Illinois counties next week in an effort to control the spread of the Gypsy Moth, a voracious insect that feasts on the foliage of trees and shrubs. Weather permitting, the applications will be made June 25-26 in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Ogle, Will and Winnebago counties.  Single-engine, fixed-wing airplanes will apply the flakes, a sexual attractant that disrupts the mating of the moth, to trees in 12 treatment areas.  

 The treatment areas consist of 22,511 acres of land and include four sites in Cook County, two in DuPage, Kane and Ogle counties and one in both Will and Winnebago counties.  The Cook County sites impact the communities of Elgin, Hoffman Estates, Palos Park, Riverside and Lyons. 
In DuPage County, applications will be made to parts of Oak Brook, Hinsdale, Wood Dale, Bensenville and Addison. 

Batavia, St. Charles and Wayne will be treated in Kane County; Bryon and Castle Rock in Ogle; Keepataw in Will; and Cherry Valley in Winnebago.  Maps of the treatment areas are available online at www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gypsymoth. 
Pheromone will be applied to Wood Dale, Bensenville and Addison Sunday, June 25.  The rest of the sites will be treated Monday, June 26.
 The Gypsy Moth is a destructive, non-native pest capable of stripping plants bare.  Pheromone, the material being applied to control the moths, is non-toxic to humans and other mammals, birds, fish and most insects.
The applications will take one to two days to complete.  However, the schedule is subject to change because of inclement weather or delays that the aerial applicator may experience while finishing similar work in Ohio and Indiana. 
Funding for the treatments comes from the Slow the Spread program, a state and federal effort to control the spread of the Gypsy Moth.