New ag commissioner eyeing moths

The new Sonoma County agricultural commissioner, Cathy Neville, is ready for a fight. In this case, the target is the light brown apple moth, 22 of which have been found in Sonoma County to date. The pest is said to be a threat to young seedlings, ornamental plants and citrus, grapes and deciduous fruit tree crops. Quarantine zones were set up along Arnold Drive and in the Carneros region in 2008.
Neville said she is up to the task of eradicating the pest. She was promoted to her current position from the San Diego Department of Agriculture, where she had served for 25 years, most recently as deputy agricultural commissioner. She has a strong background in quarantines. She said she had started out her career as a competitive trapper, and noted that in her first three weeks at the University of New Hampshire, where she earned her B.S., she found an Oriental fruit fly in the area, which led to an eradication effort. With a career-long interest in insect trapping, she said she is ready to take on the moths.
“It is a federal issue,” she said, “and we must work within the parameters they’ve set.” She is currently talking with federal officials as they plan their next steps for eradicating the LBAM in Sonoma.
Larry Hawkins, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said he’s impressed with Neville’s experience in dealing with quarantines.
“We’ve already worked with her,” he said. “Our staff has met with her two or three times.” Moths were found during the summer and fall, he said, but so far only the Carneros quarantine area has been expanded. Other discoveries have been scattered. “Most recently,” said Hawkins, “we have one find that’s north of Sebastopol. Some of the new ones are between Rohnert Park and Sebastopol. There are one, two, three, just on the north side of Sonoma proper, outside the original quarantine. And another north of Sonoma just off of Highway 12.”
Hawkins said the USDA is now trying now to figure out whether to use twist ties, and where they would or would not be effective. “The problem is how to make it possible for growers to move grapes this fall.”
Twist ties, containing LBAM pheromones, are used to disrupt the mating cycle of the LBAM and thereby reduce or eliminate the moths. Some groups protest the use of twist ties outside agricultural areas on the grounds that their ingredients have not been sufficiently tested and may cause harm.
Chief Deputy Agricultural Commissioner for Sonoma County Stefan Parnay said there is an invitation for public comment published on the USDA Web site. Those interested in filing comments have until Jan. 23 to write to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine, Emergency and Domestic Programs Emergency Management, 4700 River Road, Unit 134, Attn: Carole Johnson, Riverdale, MD 20737–1236. They can send their comments by e-mail to lbamenvirodocs@aphis.usda.gov. The USDA Plant Health Web site is: www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/ea/lbam.shtml