Rosy Gypsy Moth                                                      Green Oak Tortrix

Survey for Forest Pests in Kentucky's parks

Kentucky has a thriving parks system.  The state has 52 state parks including 24 recreation state parks, 17 resort parks (more than any other state), and 11 historic state parks.  In addition, approximately one million acres of land belong to national parks in Kentucky (statistics from www.kentuckytourism.com).  In 2011, three national parks in Kentucky had over 1.2 million visitors (www.nps.gov).  Many of these parks have campgrounds which are popular destinations for both in-state and out-of-state visitors.  Campgrounds are high-risk areas in terms of the introduction of forest pests and state and national parks are high-risk areas in terms of points of potential establishment of exotic pests; therefore, we will perform a bundled survey focusing on Kentucky parks to protect Kentucky’s forests and preserve an important source of tourism revenue for the state.    

The survey will take place in 20-25 parks throughout the state of Kentucky.  We will design a survey that consists of both a trapping component and a visual survey component.  The trapping component of the survey is designed to detect eight moth pests that pose a risk to oak trees since 75% of Kentucky’s forestland, a total over 9.3 million acres, is an oak-hickory forest type (statistics from forestry.ky.gov).   These eight pests are as follows: Summer Fruit Tortrix, Variegated Golden Tortrix, Light Brown Apple Moth, Rosy Moth, Egyptian Cottonworm, Oak Processionary Moth, False Codling Moth, and Green Oak Tortrix.  The visual survey component will involve looking for signs and symptoms of two pests of state concern, the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid  and Asian Longhorned Beetle.  Hemlock trees are common in forests in the eastern one-third of Kentucky and Hemlock Woolly Adelgid was discovered first discovered in Kentucky in 2006.  Asian Longhorned Beetle has been found in southeastern Ohio relatively near the Kentucky border.  The establishment of any of these insects would have large negative impacts on the state’s forestland. We will collect survey data detailing the presence/absence of these pests in Kentucky’s parks.  As with most other exotics, early detection leads to easier and less costly eradication.

 

            
             Oak Processionary Moth                                  Asian Longhorned Beetle