Stop the Spray Sonoma?

[sandra]

Hello there,

Is there a group in Sonoma County organizing around halting the awful aerial spraying needlessly targeting the Light Brown Apple Moth? I want to plug in.

Thank you,
Sandra

[Zeno Swijtink]

Is there a group in Sonoma County organizing around halting the awful aerial spraying needlessly targeting the Light Brown Apple Moth? I want to plug in.

Some people have asked me about this. I know of no group that is organizing. The perceived lack of a threat of aerial spraying in the county may explain that.

Sonoma City Council opposes aerial spraying: https://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080508/NEWS/805080343

I copy an article from the Petaluma paper from last week that we put on SonomaWildlife.

Zeno Swijtink
Moderator SonomaWildlife


To: SonomaWildlife <[email protected]>
From: SWHWG Newsservice <[email protected]>
Sender: [email protected]
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 20:32:15 -0700
Subject: [SonomaWildlife] APPLE MOTH: Twist ties will be used to eradicate apple moth

Our mission: To make Sonoma County's environmental community a well-informed and well-networked force to be reckoned with!
******************** https://www1.arguscourier.com/article/20080605/NEWS01/747931060

Twist ties will be used to eradicate apple moth Published: Thursday, Jun 5, 2008

By DAN JOHNSON ARGUS-COURIER STAFF
While aerial spraying has been used in some California locations to try to eradicate the dreaded light brown apple moth, the tactic isn't being seriously considered in Sonoma County, where just two of the creatures have been found - neither of them in the Petaluma area.

Instead, beginning June 16, state agricultural employees will be putting pheremone-infused twist ties to fences and trees in a 200-meter area in Sonoma Valley where the two moths were found. This tactic has been suggested in such cases by officials from the State Department of Food and Agriculture in a 2008-2009 action plan to eradicate the moth.

The moths found in the Sonoma Valley might have been "hitchhikers" that came there with plant materials, said Lisa Correia, Sonoma County's agricultural commissioner.

"They were found in mid-February and the latter part of April, after we set up 600 traps around the county to catch them," Correia said. "The good news is, it's now been a good month since the last find."

Still, the two finds prompted the state to establish a quarantine area covering 15 square miles in Agua Caliente, Boyes Hot Springs, El Verano and west Sonoma in which homegrown plants, vegetables, flowers and fruits cannot be removed.

The moth, found in Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, wasn't discovered in the United States until February 2007, when it turned up in California. It can cause significant damage to foliage and fruit, and this could result in an annual state loss of up to $640 in crop damage, state officials say.

This scary possible scenario has triggered a $75 million state and federal program to eradicate the moth, and sparked a heated debate over how to do so.

Some people advocate the aerial spraying of a synthetic pheromone that is designed to interrupt the mating process, rather than immediately kill the moth. This was done in Santa Cruz, where some 14,000 of the moths were found, but afterward, more than 100 people reported feeling sick.

Some state officials claim that the spraying doesn't present health hazards for human beings, but others disagree. The Sonoma City Council voted 4-1 on May 7 to pass a resolution opposing the use of aerial spraying to eradicate the moth. Also, the state has suspended the aerial spraying until at least Aug. 17 so that toxicological tests can be done by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazards Assessment.

Correia says that the application of pheremone-infused twist ties in the area around where the two moths were found is a more appropriate approach.

"This process is pretty laborious, and is best used when small quantities are involved," Correia said.

Meanwhile, 958 traps - including some in the Petaluma area - now are set up in Sonoma County to help identify possible additional moths.

(Contact Dan Johnson at [email protected]) --

NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., section 107, some material is provided without permission from the copyright owner, only for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of federal copyright laws. These materials may not be distributed further, except for "fair use," without permission of the copyright owner. For more information go
to: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

[Dixon]

...<[email protected]><[email protected]>this could result in an annual state loss of up to $640 in crop damage...

No problema--we can take up a collection for the $640, LOL!</[email protected]></[email protected]>:wink:

Dixon
<[email protected]><[email protected]>
</[email protected]></[email protected]>

[Deb]

except the real loss is anticipated not in loss of crops, but in loss of ability to EXPORT the crops. There are several countries that ban the LBAM. If even ONE is found on a shipment, it will be rejected. The threat is to trade.

[Zeno Swijtink]

No problema--we can take up a collection for the $640, LOL!</[email protected]></[email protected]>:wink:

Dixon
<[email protected]><[email protected]>
</[email protected]></[email protected]>

This was an error in the Argus Courier. I checked other sources and they mention $640m.

[flygal]

HI, I am not sure about a group organizing locally, but here are some things you and I can do in the meantime.

Pay special attention to item 3 and get to fax'n! No time crunch like the last one, just ASAP. Thanks! -And thank you to everyone who fax'd on the last one....cause it worked! Both Resolutions and the one bill passed 4-0! Nice work folks! Keep up the good fight! www.StopTheSpray.org (https://www.stopthespray.org/)


> Four information items in this newsletter, including an
IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT (ITEM 3):

> 1) Another good investigative story last night from the
> team at CBS 5, highlighting the lack of responsiveness at USDA:
> https://cbs5.com/investigates/apple.moth.spraying.2.752554.html (https://cbs5.com/)
>
> 2) All three Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) related bills
> passed the
> Senate Agriculture Committee yesterday:
> SCR 87 (Migden) - Resolution for Moratorium on LBAM Spray
> until proven safe and effective
> ACR 117 (Laird) - Resolution calling for further health and
scientific study of spray
> AB 2763 (Laird) - Bill that requires disclosure of all
> pesticide ingredients and independent scientific study of health and other effects of state aerial spray, including effects on children, the elderly, and those with chronic illness. Also calls for
> advance planning for invasive species, so measures to address
> species are in place ready to go.
>
> Thanks to all who faxed and/or attended in support of these
> bills!
>
> 3) IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED to ask for money for LBAM to be
> removed from the 2008-2009 Budget bill:
> Senate Bill 1067 contains $2 million for 18 staff positions
> at the CA Dept of Food and Agriculture to "provide support
> staffing and logistical support for the Light Brown Apple Moth
> Eradication Program." These positions have five-year terms and
> would start on
> July 1, 2008.
> https://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/
> sb_1051-1100/sb_1067_bill_20080611_amended_sen_v97.html
>
> Please fax the members of the Senate Budget and Fiscal
Review Committee immediately and ask that this $2 million be
> stricken from the budget as the LBAM program poses a public health threat, is in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act as judges in
> Monterey and Santa Cruz counties have already ruled, and is
> not necessary as the moth has done no damage in California nor
> does it cause damage in the other countries where it is
> established.
>
> See contact info at the end of this message. NOTE that
> faxes are the most reliable and effective way to contact legislators as written communications they count most heavily, they can be
> individually counted to provide an accurate total to the legislator and committee staff of how many people favor or oppose a measure, and they cannot get lost as emails can (generally you an only email through a legislator's website, and often the website only
> accepts emails from those in the legislator's district).
>
> 4) Don't forget the East Bay Community Town Hall on the
> spray,
> Monday, June 23, 7-9 PM, Lakeside Garden Center, Lake
> Merritt,
> admission free
> Hear updates from: Dr. Daniel Harder, UC Santa Cruz
> Arboretum
> Executive Director and author of a white paper on LBAM in
> New Zealand
> Dr. Larry Rose MD, formerly with the state Department of
> Occupational
> Safety and Health, who has analyzed the ingredients in last
> year's
> LBAM pesticide
> Douglas MacLean from Assemblymember Sandre Swanson's
> office
> Oakland City Attorney John Russo on East Bay legal action
> against the
> spray
>
> It's been suggested that we change the name of the
> newsletter as Aerial Spray News makes it sound like we are concerned only about the aerial spray and not the ground treatments that are part of the LBAM
> program, which is not the case. So this issue debuts the
> STOP THE SPRAY - EAST BAY News.
>
> ***
> As always, if you are interested in volunteering or know
> anyone who
> is, please contact [email protected] (https://us.mc342.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]) or
> [email protected] (https://us.mc342.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]),
> and tax-free donations to support the media and other work
> of Stop
> the Spray East Bay can be made out and sent to the
> Pesticide Watch
> Education Fund, 1107 9th St., Suite 601 Sacramento CA
> 95814.
> Thanks for your support and if you would like to be removed
> from this
> email list, let me know.
>
> Nan
>
> Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee Members:
>
> Senator Denise Ducheny (Chair) Fax: 916-327-3522
> Senator Robert Dutton (Vice Chair) Fax: (916) 327-2272
> Senator Elaine Alquist Fax: (916) 324-0283
> Senator Dave Cogdill Fax: (916) 327-3523
> Senator Tom Harman Fax: (916) 445-9263
> Senator Christine Kehoe Fax: (916) 327-2188
> Senator Alan Lowenthal Fax: (916) 327-9113
> Senator Michael Machado Fax: (916) 323-2304
> Senator Bob Margett Fax: (916) 324-0922
> Senator Alex Padilla Fax:916-324-6645
> Senator Gloria Romero Fax: (916) 445-0485
> Senator Darrell Steinberg Fax: (916) 323-2263
> Senator Mark Wyland Fax: (916) 446-7382




Hello there,

Is there a group in Sonoma County organizing around halting the awful aerial spraying needlessly targeting the Light Brown Apple Moth? I want to plug in.

Thank you,
Sandra