County extension presents spongy moth survey showing mostly low populations in sampled sites

Danielle Zollner provided an update on spongy moth (formerly gypsy moth) monitoring and outreach at the March 18 Barry County Committee of the Whole meeting.

Zollner said the county’s survey covered 31 sites and five survey locations were on parcels of 30 acres or larger; overall, most sampled sites were below the threshold that would trigger control measures. She summarized lab results and cited work by academic researchers indicating that population dynamics for spongy moths are often driven by multiple factors, including natural pathogens. “Spongy moth populations can be patchy, but largely, we are still expecting that...the populations continue to decline,” she said, noting pilot sites where virus activity had notably reduced larvae.

Her presentation linked county outreach materials to Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Michigan State University Extension resources and provided a list of contractors and community outreach plans. Zollner said the county will pursue invasive‑species work and a volunteer crew for trail clearing at Bailey Nature Preserve and reminded the board that the county’s spring tree sale runs through April 5 with pickup April 25 at Charlton Park.

Commissioners thanked Zollner and Dr. Dwyer (research collaborator) for local monitoring; one commissioner observed that Dr. Dwyer did not recommend spraying county-wide given current population projections. Zollner said recommended management for most sites is monitoring and targeted actions rather than broad spraying.

The presentation was informational; no county action was required.