Slow The Spread PDF Download

"The spongy moth, Lymantria dispar L. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae), formerly known as the "gypsy moth," continues to spread throughout North America, threatening deciduous trees, impacting humans, and directing state, federal, and private funds to population suppression and regulatory compliance. This non-native, foliage-feeding insect species currently occupies only about one-third of its possible host distribution in the United States. Efforts to reduce its impact and invasion spread represent one of the largest and most successful federal and state agency integrated pest management programs against a forest pest. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Spongy Moth Management Strategy is a four-pronged, multidisciplinary, and geographically coordinated approach to suppress outbreaks in generally infested areas, slow the spread of the advancing invasion front along a transition area, eradicate newly founded populations in uninfested areas, and regulate the anthropogenic movement of life stages from quarantined areas. The National Slow the Spread (STS) Program, which has been actively managing low density L. dispar populations along the expanding invasion front (i.e., transition zone) since 2000, represents a primary component of the multidisciplinary USDA strategy and has significantly contributed to lessening the impacts and spread of L. dispar in the United States. The objective of this report is to synthesize new information about the STS Program’s standard operating procedures, accomplishments, and advancements for managing the spread of L. dispar since 2000 and to provide a guide and framework for future landscape-level integrated pest management programs. Building on Tobin and Blackburn (2007), this report includes five papers that (1) provide an overview of L. dispar in the United States, including the impacts and changes in L. dispar management since the late 1800s and advancements of L. dispar integrated pest management programs; (2) explain the STS Program, including advancements in monitoring data collection and management, workflow and processes of the centralized database, updates to the information delivery of the program, and funding trends; (3) report annual trends and assessments for trapping, the STS decision algorithm, treatments, and spread; (4) present current understanding and research about L. dispar spread and considerations about future directions; and (5) describe recent methods development work focusing on mating disruption applications and use of pheromone-baited traps supported by the STS Technical Committee."