[The Nor'wester]—Three communities on the Baie Verte Peninsula (Newfoundland & Labrador) are preparing for an aerial spray program to mitigate an infestation of hemlock looper.
Forested areas around Baie Verte, Seal Cove and Westport have been identified by the Department of Natural Resources as potential locations for an infestation.
To minimize the infestation, the Department of Natural Resources Forest Engineering and Industry Service Division, will be conducting an aerial spray program in July with an insecticide called Btk.
But before any spraying can occur, the department needs to obtain proper permits from other government divisions.
To get the message out to the public, department officials held an information session at the Baie Vista Inn on April 21.
Although there was a small gathering, officials were more than eager to educate the public.
Eric Young, director of the Forest Engineering and Industry Services Division, explained the process conservation officers go through to indentify where hemlock looper is located in the province. The insect is native to the province. Spruce budworm, balsam fir sawfly are other insects that feed on trees.
The process begins in the fall when conservation officers head out into the woods where they think hemlock looper is indentified. Then an aerial defoliation map is created.
"It will show us where the insects are based on defoliation of the forests," he said.
After they calculate which areas are considered moderate or severe, conservation officers will then go back and collect egg samples from branches. If branches have 30 or more eggs, it is considered severe.
"That's how we kind of base where the insects are going to be this spring," said Mr. Young.
But before they spray, they go back to the indentified areas again to make sure their calculations are right.
And for the Baie Verte Peninsula, their calculations are right.
Mr. Young said there is roughly 25,000 hectares on the Baie Verte Peninsula at risk, with the bulk of it near the water supply of the Town of Baie Verte.
He said if they don't spray, within a year or two, all trees in the indentified area would die, bringing long-term effects with it.
"Trees can't recover," he said. "The bad thing about this is risk of fire afterwards, that's what normally follows insect infestations."
Blowdown and siltation are some other long-term effects.
Siltation occurs when dead trees can't absorb rainfall, resulting in more surface runoff that makes its way into bodies of water, and possibly public water supplies. If that happens, water quality is affected. Blowdowns are when the trees are dead and simply fall to the ground because of wind.
"Keeping things green is good for water quality," he said.
Hemlock looper goes through several stages of growth. Moths or "millers" as they are commonly known as, lay eggs in the fall on softwood branches. The eggs then hatch in the spring and larvae feed on mature balsam fir trees. After several larvae stages, they pupate back into moths.
The opportune time to eliminate the insects is during the second or third larvae stage, normally during the month of July.
Mr. Young said the insecticide used is not harmful to humans and it does not pose a threat if it's sprayed near public water supplies.
Btk is a naturally occurring bacterium that is commercially available as a biomedical insecticide that only affects insects with alkaline stomachs.
"They eat this bacteria and the bacteria grows inside of their stomach and it blocks off the stomach. It makes them feel like they are full," said Mr. Young.
Because the insects lose their appetite, they don't feed anymore and gradually die off.
In addition, economic opportunities could also be at stake if spraying doesn't take place, because pulp and paper companies don't want dead timber.
Because of the availability of information about Btk and reassurances by the department, Baie Verte Mayor Gerald Acreman said he has to trust the science behind it.
"We looked at the big picture and weighted what if we don't spray and what if we do. We haven't made a final decision yet, but we are certainly leaning towards permitting the spraying program to go ahead," he said. "Without spraying and with the information we have, its worse now than when we met a month ago. We're going to potentially have a lot of dead timber around our town and within our watershed area that will ruin our water supply."
Council has already spent a lot of money to upgrade the town's water supply, and possibly an additional $2 million will be pumped into the system, so making sure the town's watershed area, infrastructure and residents are protected is paramount, said Mr. Acreman.
