WOODWAY, Wash. — Washington state officials have scheduled an aerial drop of insecticide to stop an invasive moth and to prevent forest foliage damage.
The Daily Herald reported that the state Department of Agriculture announced about 2 square miles in the town of Woodway and an Everett neighborhood will be sprayed with 655 gallons of soil bacteria, or Btk, a bacteria found in soil in the natural environment. When moth larvae eat Btk it kills them.
Department spokesperson Karla Salp says the treatment is scheduled for Friday, depending on weather conditions.
Experts say the Hokkaido gypsy moths, native to Asia, arrived in Snohomish County forests last year. Gypsy moths first arrived in Washington in 1974 and the state has implemented multiple preventive measures since.