SOLUTIONS
RELY ON NATURAL PREDATORS
In New Zealand, where the Light Brown Apple Moth has lived for over one hundred years, it is kept in check by natural predators, (including birds, spiders, wasps, beetles, lacewings and earwigs) and Integrated Pest Management techniques with few or no chemical applications.
In early 2008, Dr. Daniel Harder, Ph.D., botanist and Executive Director of the U. C. Santa Cruz Arboretum, and Jeff Rosendale, horticultural consultant, conducted a three-week, 3,000-kilometer fact-finding study in New Zealand’s two major agricultural regions. Their goal was to assess the practices used to control the LBAM and how those practices could be employed in California. In their report: Integrated Pest Management Practices for the Light Brown Apple Moth in New Zealand: Implications for California, they state:
"The Light Brown Apple Moth…has been an established exotic species in New Zealand for more than 100 years.... LBAM is considered a minor pest that does not cause economically significant crop damage or have detrimental effect on native flora."
"Today, LBAM is effectively controlled almost exclusively by natural predators in both agricultural settings and wild lands in New Zealand. There is no evidence of biological or environmental threat from LBAM in New Zealand.... The success of New Zealand ... in controlling LBAM ... using IPM techniques and few or no chemical applications is a model of best IPM practices that can be readily adopted in California to control LBAM, particularly because many of the natural LBAM predators that are present in New Zealand are also found in California."
"California has an abundance of enemies and beneficial organisms that control the 300+ species of Tortricid moths here. Due to the similarity of LBAM to these other moths, these enemies will also control LBAM populations and have for many decades."
CONTAIN VS. ERADICATE
UC Davis entomologist and invasive species expert Dr. James Carey comments on the report: "This is the kind of careful science that [the California Department of Food and Agriculture] should have undertaken before launching their eradication program. The Harder-Rosendale report and its conclusions should be taken seriously by CDFA, USDA, and the public at large."
Dr. Carey testified to the Agriculture Committee of the California State Assembly on March 12, 2008: "The current distribution of the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) in California, covering 10 counties with a combined area of more than 8,000 to 10,000 square miles ... suggests that this pest is not a recent introduction but has been in the state for many years, perhaps 30 to 50 years or longer. Dr. Carey recommended: We should be considering creating a first-rate program of containment of the LBAM rather than launching an eradication program that has no chance of success."
RE-CLASSIFY THE LBAM
There is solid evidence that the LBAM has been wrongly classified as an Emergency pest. This classification allows the State of California to bypass safety measures in order to spray our communities with toxic chemicals.
The USDA should re-classify the LBAM from its current "Quarantinable/ Class A" status and thus end the declared LBAM Emergency. This will result in a lifting of the current and future quarantines imposed on California's farmers.
PRACTICE BIODIVERSITY AND SUSTAINABLE, ORGANIC FARMING
Biodiversity and sustainable, organic farming are means for natural pest control. Farmers worldwide have flourished for millennia through the use of non-toxic methods of pest management. By contrast, current monoculture practices require regular applications of pesticides and chemical fertilizers as well as foster a dependence on ever more costly and scarce petroleum-based resources. This breaks down natural systems and puts bees and other pollinators at serious risk. It also creates an environment that is prone to invasive pests and disease.
PROVIDE VISIONARY "GREEN" LEADERSHIP
California could provide the nation with visionary Green leadership by capitalizing on proven organic farming techniques and methods as a healthy long-term alternative to controlling pests. There is already a legion of city and county governments, politicians, medical care providers, environmental and health organizations, organic farmers associations, religious organizations and citizens who have officially opposed some or all of the LBAM Eradication Program. A coalition could be built to vision and implement programs across counties, the State and the nation.
