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The discovery of five light brown apple moths during the month of November means Sonoma will soon be under a new state-required quarantine zone.

The first moth was discovered along Ramal Road in early November, the same area that has been under quarantine since several moths were discovered in the area during the summer and fall. The other four moths were confirmed on Monday. One came from a trap in the same Boyes Hot Springs neighborhood that was under quarantine for months before it was lifted in October. The other three moths were found in traps along Felder Road off Arnold Drive. "The population is going up," said Lisa Correia, the county's agricultural commissioner. "Today we have 12 active moths (in Sonoma Valley), last year we had zero."

Correia said the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which is charged with handling the state's moth eradication efforts, will put a new quarantine zone in place that will cover at least part of Felder Road, although the actual boundaries have yet to be decided. "It's too soon to say whether the Boyes Hot Springs find will be included in that quarantine," said Steve Lyle, spokesman for CDFA, who added the moth in Boyes Hot Springs was found just three miles from the moths on Felder Road. 

Wineries and any agricultural businesses within the quarantine zone will have their properties monitored by state officials and will be restricted from moving foliage in or out of the area. 

Lyle also said his department had not yet decided how to treat the new quarantine area, but the use of pheromone-laced twist ties that disrupt the moth's mating has been discussed. Despite having two quarantine zones in place for months - one in Carneros along Ramal Road and one in Boyes Hot Springs that was lifted last month - neither of the quarantined areas were treated with anything. Plans to utilize the twist ties were put on hold over the summer after the neighbors in Boyes Hot Springs protested their usage. But Correia said the lack of any population control methods is exactly why more moths continue to be found in the Valley.

"If there's limited control methods in place, they'll continue to spread," she said. "If we look back a year ago ... some of the counties had just a few moths and now they have hundreds. We don't want that to happen here."

Valley resident Yannick Phillips, who has actively opposed CDFA's eradication methods, said statements such as Correia's are used to worry people into compliance. "They weren't successful in using the twist ties so now they're using scare tactics," she said. "Can (CDFA) show us the damage? I'd like to see evidence of where there is crop damage in California."

Lyle said he wasn't sure what damages had been reported from the moths. Correia said plants in Golden Gate Park have shown signs of damage.

Phillips questioned whether the moths were actually harmful. She said she has contacted dozens of wineries and farmers in New Zealand where the moths have existed for decades, all of whom said they had not experienced any crop loss from the moths.

However, state agriculture officials warn that if the moth is left to multiply, other states and countries may limit purchasing produce from California. Already Mexico and Canada are requiring that produce from California be inspected and certified as pest-free.

Phillips said she is also worried about the health and ecological impacts of the state's plans to control the population. In 2007, CDFA ordered hundreds of square miles across Monterey and Santa Cruz counties to be sprayed with an aerial pheromone, which they said was completely harmless to humans.

However in the days following the spray, hundreds of people reported respiratory ailments and trouble breathing, bees disappeared from lavender farms and birds turned up dead.

A recent report issued by the Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and the Department of Public Health stated, "We cannot exclude the possibility that one or more ingredients in the (light brown apple moth) product could cause an allergic response in sensitive individuals."

Newly passed legislation requires that the public has the right know the ingredients used in the twist ties or any other eradication methods CDFA plans to utilize.

In 2009, CFA plans to release thousands of sterile moths into the highly populated areas of the state to interrupt the moths' mating behaviors.

The light brown apple moth was first confirmed in California in early 2007, but some esteemed scientists speculate that the moths may have been around for decades. The invasive pests are known to feed on hundreds of types of plants, which state agricultural officials say could lead to millions of dollars in crop loss if left unchecked. The moths are native to Australia but have established themselves in New Zealand, the British Isles and Hawaii.

 

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