The New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) has announced a plan to treat 1,471 residential municipal acres and approximately 1,500 state-owned acres in Burlington, Cape May, Passaic, and Sussex counties this year. The initiative aims to combat the tree-killing Lymantria dispar, dispar (LDD), formerly known as the gypsy moth.
“By treating these areas now, it will help prevent the spread of this pest and significantly reduce its populations for years to come,” NJDA Assistant Secretary Joe Atchison III stated. “This program has been very effective over the last several years and helps save the many types of trees and plants it is capable of feeding on.”
An informational session was held by the NJDA in Ewing today to outline its 2024 Aerial LDD Suppression program. Egg mass surveys were conducted from September to November in 2023.
A combined four municipalities in residential areas of Burlington, Cape May, and Sussex counties are recommended for treatment during the spring of 2024. Participation in the program is voluntary. If towns agree to participate, treatments will take place in May and June. To qualify for the program, a residential or recreational forest must have an average of more than 500 egg masses per acre and be at least 40 acres in size. A single egg mass contains up to 500 eggs. The plot recommended for treatment in Passaic County is on state-owned land.
In previous years, approximately 4,010 acres of forested municipal residential lands were treated in 2023 across Burlington, Cape May, and Ocean counties. In 2022, 8,961 acres were recommended for treatment in Burlington and Cape May counties. In contrast, only 50 acres were treated in Cape May County in 2021. There were no areas recommended for treatment in 2019 and 2020. From 2017 to 2018, about 3,900 acres of residential and county-owned properties were included in NJDA’s program across Burlington, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, and Warren counties—an approximate reduction of 80 percent from what was treated under the 2016 program due to effective treatments and sporadic E. maimaiga (LDD moth fungus) activity.
The NJDA collaborates with the Department of Environmental Protection using Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.), a biological insecticide that kills LDD caterpillars when ingested.
