| We lost the Battle of 2020 against the Gypsy Moth. It’s time to give our trees a fighting chance. |
| We lost the Battle of 2020 against the Gypsy Moth. They stripped large tracts of trees around Horseshoe and Crotch Lakes. Some of us spent hours scraping egg masses into soapy water, wrapping burlap and tape around trees to stop the caterpillars and catching male moths in traps. We killed thousands, but it was a drop in the bucket. Our trees were still stripped bare. Some trees died, and the rest are already weakened. And Gypsy Moth invasions don’t stop after the first year. It’s time to give our trees a fighting chance. Experts advised us that the only effective tool is aerial spraying. It uses a bacterial agent because chemicals were found unsafe. The bacteria targets only caterpillars, and the spraying is timed when beneficial caterpillars aren’t harmed. We’ve made arrangements for interested property owners to hire Zimmer Air Services, a company with decades of spraying experience, to protect their trees. Our neighbour Barb Fernandez has contacted all but a few owners, and almost all plan to take part in the spraying. Barb passed on their contact information to Zimmer Air. And huge thanks to Barb for taking this initiative! Zimmer Air will be sending out information on details and pricing. If you don’t receive information in the next few weeks, or Barb couldn’t reach you, contact Zimmer Air directly through their website https://zimmerair.com/ If you know anyone that might have been missed, please pass on this information. If you are interested in extending the spraying past your property line into the backlots, see the information provided below by Geoff Michie. Geoff Michie writes, This announcement pertains only to properties abutting Parts 184 and 186, namely those abutting Big Bay Drive, Crotch Lake Trail, Astor Drive, Clancy Lane, See Drive (1012 to 1070). The majority of properties on Big Bay Drive, Crotch Lake Trail, Astor Drive, and a large portion of Clancy Lane do not extend to the respective road. As such, without my written consent as the owner of Part 184 and Part 186, spraying to the property line may not be possible. Properties on See Drive, and the first portion of Clancy Lane do extend to their road, but abut Part 186 across the road. Many property owners have indicated their interest in expanding the spraying at their cost past their property lines to the road, or in some cases into forested areas across their road. Through discussions with Zimmer Air, we have indicated our agreement to provide blanket approval to them to spray to property lines, and to the applicable private road at the requesting property owner’s cost. As well, for spraying further into our property, based on reasonable requests , we will also provide approval. If you wish to extend past your property line, reach out to Zimmer Air, indicate where you would like expanded to, and they will provide a revised quote to you. They will then provide us the applicable information of individual’s moving forward, and we will provide the required approvals for reasonable requests. Thanks and hopefully this assists at keeping these nasty insects under control. For questions about extending spraying into my property, please email me at geoffmichie@yahoo.com and I will attempt to assist. |