Quinte West council has taken another step in its fight against gypsy moths.
At Monday’s meeting council approved a staff report recommending they hire the company BioForest to map defoliation and collect data on the moths in the region.
This comes after months of people reporting serious infestations destroying trees all over and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s insistence that it must be dealt with municipally.
At Monday’s meeting there were three pieces of public input all asking that council do something about the problem.
Council is using $34,321 from the Emergency Reserve Fund to hire BioForest. They’ll collect data beginning in late August and, according to Director of Public Works Chris Angelo, they’ll bring some possible solutions back to council around November based on the predictions and data for 2022.
Angelo said they’ve consulted with officials from the Town of Pelham, who also hired BioForest and also conducted a spraying program.
He said one of the concerns about a spraying program is that some of the moths may flee the area and infest other surrounding areas.
Councillors were all in agreement and voted to approve the staff report.
