Kane County Reporter

The Geneva City Council met on April 3 and welcomed representatives from the Illinois Department of Agriculture to talk about the spongy moth and potential ways to combat it.

Scott Schirmer and Nancy Johnson spoke with the council, noting there will be aerial spraying occurring in June. A public open house was held in the city library earlier in the day to fill residents in about it, as well. They spoke with the council to inform them of how it would go, the reasons for it and to educate them on the topic.

“So everything that we're using is tried and true. We're using it because we've had good results, we've had good feedback from the public. It's a nontoxic product,” Schirmer told the council. “Basically what we're using here is a pheromone. So it disrupts the insect's ability to mate. So it's kind of like a glorified bug cologne or perfume. This makes the entire area smell like a female moth, so the male moths cannot pinpoint and find those females. So it's effectively a dead end to their mating process, which is kind of humorous in my mind, or morbid, I guess. But nonetheless, we're basically disrupting their ability to procreate and perpetuate their populations in an area. Therefore the populations collapse. So the product we use again, isn't even toxic to the target organism. It's not a contact insecticide. It's not something that they have to ingest. It simply disrupts their ability to find the opposite sex.”

The spongy moth, formerly known as the gypsy moth, is an invasive species that has been in North America for 150 years. Schirmer and Johnson told council that there are safe and efficient methods to treat the problem, as it has been fought for many decades. 

The moths feed on oaks and several other types of tree. Each year the department chooses a new part of the state to treat and spray, while monitoring the population levels to determine the next location. The spray is done with a fixed wing aircraft, which is basically a low-altitude crop duster that flies back and forth over the area to cover it with spray. They will fly at 7 a.m. on June 21 or June 22 depending on the best weather conditions.

The representatives told the council that the substance sprayed is safe to all organisms, insects, animals and humans. It is a heavier stickier spray that is widespread and not blown around with wind. Residents will not be harmed if they are outdoors when the spraying occurs. The spray is a food grade product and the public is welcome to watch the process. The process is intended to ground the moths before taking flight and prevent a mating cycle. It is likely that additional spraying will not be done for another 10 years.