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Acreage hit
by caterpillars
up 12 percent
By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock Ntwi Staff Writer
The Gypsy moth continues its invasion of Rappahannock County, defoliating 12,500 acres more than were affected last year.
According to preliminary estimates compiled by the Virginia Department of Forestry, 63,000 acres were affected by the voracious caterpillars this year. In 1989, Area Forester Buck Kline reported, the caterpillars infested 50,500 acres.
Mr. Kline said the population in the northwestern part of the county, roughly from U.S. 211 north toward Warren County bordering Shenandoah National Park, experienced a collapse this year, with fewer caterpillars creating a much less, severe defoliation. He explained that such “crashes” are normal when the Gypsy moth populations build to a level which cannot be sustained by the available food.
After the first collapse, Mr. Kline said, the caterpillars enter a cyclical rise and fall of population levels. Entomologists are unsure as to the cycle duration, he said, with estimates ranging from two to nine years. “Nobody knows how severe the repeat outbreaks will be.”
The welcome respite from the caterpillars seen along the mountains was offset by “severe” defoliation in the southern end of the county in the Slate Mills area and near the Culpeper County line, the forester said. “Farther out in the county got hit pretty hard.”
See MOTHS, p. 14
90.4%