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Risk management in the United States: Three case studies
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ENVIRON IMPACT ASSESS REV 1987;7:67-76
RISK M A N A G E M E N T IN T H E UNITED STATES: T H R E E C A S E STUDIES CARBARYL AND THE GYPSY MOTH: A MASSACHUSETTS PESTICIDE CONTROVERSY
R. S T E V E N K O N K E L
Periodic population explosions of gypsy moth caterpillars have been a serious threat to the beauty and health of the New England environment. A record of acreage defoliated by these pests is available at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management dating back to 1924. The gypsy moth population was established in New England in 1869 when a French naturalist living in Medford, Massachusetts allowed moths to escape from a silk-making experiment that eventually failed (Dolnick 1984). Gypsy moth caterpillars are particularly attracted to the leaves of oak and other hardwood trees, although they will also feed off birch, beech, hemlock, hickory, maple, and sometimes even pine trees. In June and July, when gypsy moth caterpillars do the most damage, an individual caterpillar can eat as much as 40 square inches of leaves (Faber 1981). The red and blue spotted caterpillars can strip leaves from a good-sized oak in a few days. Each egg cluster consists of 500-700 eggs (New York Times, Sept. 6, 1981); two egg clusters can produce enough caterpillars to defoliate over 40,000 square inches of tree leaves in two months. Although most deciduous trees, with the notable exception of the white oak, can withstand one or two defoliations, generally the conifers like hemlock and spruce can be killed by a single stripping. In the early 1980s, gypsy moths were eating the leaves off deciduous and evergreen trees from Maine to Maryland. Damage from the caterpillars had affected up to nine million acres in the Eastern US in 1981, up from about five million acres in 1980 (Faber 1981). For perspective, consider the fact that Vermont and New Hampshire have about 13 million acres within their borders. In Massachusetts, 2.8 million acres had been affected by gypsy moth defoliation in 1981. This defoliation affected over 50 percent of Massachusetts' total tree acreage, accounting for over ten times the 226,000 acres affected in 1979. Both © 1987 Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
0195-9255/87/$3.50
ENVIRON IMPACT ASSESS REV 1987;7:67-76
RISK M A N A G E M E N T IN T H E UNITED STATES: T H R E E C A S E STUDIES CARBARYL AND THE GYPSY MOTH: A MASSACHUSETTS PESTICIDE CONTROVERSY
R. S T E V E N K O N K E L
Periodic population explosions of gypsy moth caterpillars have been a serious threat to the beauty and health of the New England environment. A record of acreage defoliated by these pests is available at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management dating back to 1924. The gypsy moth population was established in New England in 1869 when a French naturalist living in Medford, Massachusetts allowed moths to escape from a silk-making experiment that eventually failed (Dolnick 1984). Gypsy moth caterpillars are particularly attracted to the leaves of oak and other hardwood trees, although they will also feed off birch, beech, hemlock, hickory, maple, and sometimes even pine trees. In June and July, when gypsy moth caterpillars do the most damage, an individual caterpillar can eat as much as 40 square inches of leaves (Faber 1981). The red and blue spotted caterpillars can strip leaves from a good-sized oak in a few days. Each egg cluster consists of 500-700 eggs (New York Times, Sept. 6, 1981); two egg clusters can produce enough caterpillars to defoliate over 40,000 square inches of tree leaves in two months. Although most deciduous trees, with the notable exception of the white oak, can withstand one or two defoliations, generally the conifers like hemlock and spruce can be killed by a single stripping. In the early 1980s, gypsy moths were eating the leaves off deciduous and evergreen trees from Maine to Maryland. Damage from the caterpillars had affected up to nine million acres in the Eastern US in 1981, up from about five million acres in 1980 (Faber 1981). For perspective, consider the fact that Vermont and New Hampshire have about 13 million acres within their borders. In Massachusetts, 2.8 million acres had been affected by gypsy moth defoliation in 1981. This defoliation affected over 50 percent of Massachusetts' total tree acreage, accounting for over ten times the 226,000 acres affected in 1979. Both © 1987 Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
0195-9255/87/$3.50