From Hector Castro, Communications Director Washington State Department of Agriculture

The weather continues to prompt adjustments in our gypsy moth treatment schedule.

On Tuesday, April 19, we will conduct gypsy moth treatment in areas of Tacoma beginning at approximately 6 a.m. We will be treated the area identified in the attached map as the Upper Tacoma zone.

It is the area in yellow. This area is large and may take two days to complete.

Following treatment of this Tacoma site, we are tentatively planning to conduct the first treatment in Seattle. On Thursday, April 21, we anticipate treating a 130-acre site in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Like all of our treatments, these dates are subject to change due to the weather or other factors.

We advise the public to visit www.agr.wa.gov/gypsymoth and sign up for email, text or robo-call notifications if they wish to be alerted in advance of any of these treatments.

To date, WSDA has conducted gypsy moth treatments in areas of:

• Vancouver
• Lacey
• Nisqually
• Gig Harbor
• Lower Tacoma site
• Kent

All sites must be treated three times for the best chances of eradicating the gypsy moth. We are treating all these sites with Btk, a non-chemical bacterial insecticide approved for organic agriculture. It targets caterpillars and is not harmful to people, pets or bees. An airplane is being used to treat most sites, but the Vancouver site is being treated by helicopter in cooperation with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, which is eradicating its own detection of gypsy moth in the Portland area.