Report lays out options to fight moth

<p>A massive new state report concludes that the “environmentally superior” way to eliminate the light brown apple month is to set out twist ties laced with a chemical that disrupts the insect’s mating habits.</p><div class="art_item art_item_inset art_item_facts"> <h3>Facts</h3> <h4>Winery meetings on apple moth</h4> <p>Sonoma County agricultural officials will hold four meetings this month with wineries on how to avoid delays related to the light brown apple moth.<br>The meetings allow wineries to sign agreements with the county so that they can receive and process grapes from lands under quarantine, said Agricultural Commissioner Cathy Neville.<br>Neville’s staff previously held 20 meetings with county growers. The county issued 792 compliance agreements, including 291 to growers and other farm business currently in quarantine areas.<br>The winery meetings will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, 2:30 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Aug. 14. All meetings will be at Neville’s Office, 133 Aviation Blvd., Suite 110, north of Santa Rosa.<br>To reserve a place for a meeting, call 565-2371.</p> </div> <p>The conclusion is contained in a environmental impact report released Friday on the exotic pest that has prompted the quarantine of nearly a third of Sonoma County’s vineyards.</p><p>The report on the moth, a native of Australia, contains more than 1,500 pages.</p><p>The report’s comments on twist ties relate to environmental impacts and not to the most effective or least costly approach to eradicating the moths.</p><p>An actual eradication plan won’t be determined until the environmental report is certified, perhaps later this year. But a state official and the report both suggest the state probably won’t choose the option of doing nothing to combat the moth.</p><p>“The destruction will get worse,” said Michael Jarvis, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “We know it’s coming.”</p><p>The department has encountered strong criticism over its response to the moth, which was first confirmed in California more than two years ago.</p><p>Opponents successfully forced the state last year to drop its plan for aerial spraying of a synthetic pheromone, a chemical that attracts and confuses the male moths as they seek to mate.</p><p>Critics continue to dispute that the moths are a danger in California or that the state and federal government are justified in spending tens of millions of dollars to combat the pests.</p><p>Now opponents plan to scrutinize the report’s contention that taking no action against the moth would result in “potentially significant impacts” to both the the state’s economy and ecology. They contend the moth has been in New Zealand, Hawaii and the United Kingdom for more than 100 years without significant impacts.</p><p>“It still remains a minor insect pest,” said Daniel Harder, executive director of the arboretum at UC Santa Cruz.</p><p>More than 110,000 moths have been trapped in California in the past two years, and 3,400 square miles of the state have been placed under quarantine. That includes nearly 20,000 acres of Sonoma County vineyards located from Healdsburg to Petaluma and from Sonoma to Sebastopol.</p><p>Quarantined growers face restrictions in moving their products, but so far the crops have still made it to market, county officials said.</p><p>The federal government has allocated $75 million to fight the moth, which officials maintain can damage more than 250 crops and such native species as cypress and oak trees. Critics, however, have urged the federal government to downgrade the moth’s threat status, a move that effectively would end the quarantines.</p><p>The federal government is still pursuing a trial study in Sonoma and Napa counties on the effects of releasing sterile male moths in farmlands. State officials last year announced that sterile moths would become their preferred alternative to aerial spraying. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture has yet to announce when the North Bay study will begin.</p><p>As part of the environmental review process, the state will hold seven public comment sessions this summer, including one in Sonoma. It will be held Aug. 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Sonoma Veterans Hall.</p><p>Cathy Neville, the county’s agricultural commissioner, said she hopes both growers and other community members will attend the meeting and make comments on the report.</p><p>Neville said she understands that some favor taking no action. But as a county official, she must work within a system where quarantines remain a potential burden to growers.</p><p>“My interests are that they come up with something that contains and eradicates the pest ... without impacting the environment,” Neville said.</p>