www.insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, November 16, 2017 | 24 T o w ntoem barko naerial spraying tocom batgypsym o thpopulation by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff It pays to get your home ready for winter Get up to $1,000 back on a new heating system, plus more With the Home Reno Rebate, your energy-saving home improvements do more than make your home more comfortable. You can get up to $5,000 cash back, plus additional electric appliance rebates, from Union Gas in partnership with Save on Energy and the Government of Ontario. Plus making your home more energy efficient could save you up to 20 per cent every year in energy costs. This program is available to all eligible homeowners whether they heat their home with gas, electricity, oil, propane or wood. Learn more at uniongas.com/homerenoprogram With significant damage to Oakville' s woodlots on the horizon, local councillors are m oving forward plans for an aerial spraying of biological pesticides. The Town' s Comm unity Services Committee voted Monday (Nov. 13) to accept a report from the Town' s Parks and Open Space Department concerning a Gypsy Moth and Cankerworm Mitigation Plan. The report noted that during the spring of 2017, the Town' s urban forests experienced severe defoliation due to the voracious appetites of gypsy m oth larvae and cankerworms. A woodland area of around 102.54 hectares was impacted. The Town' s Forestry Services Manager Jalil Hashemi noted in his report to the committee that w hile the trees can survive one season of defoliation, successive seasons where their leaves are lost will kill them. A 2016 report by the forestry management software iTree estimated that, if left untreated, gypsy moths alone have the potential of impacting more than 400,000 trees in Oakville and costing the Town $325 million. With that in mind, the Town is moving forward a plan that w ould see impacted Town woodlands sprayed w ith the biological pesticide Bacillus thuringiensis var.kurstaki (Btk) in the spring of 2018. Town council and the Town' s 2018 Budget Committee m ust still approve this plan, which will cost approximately $205,000 to implement. Biological pesticides including Btk are permitted under the Town' s Pesticide Bylaw. The pesticide is described as a bacterium that occurs naturally worldwide and which m ust be ingested by the caterpillars and cankerworms to be effective. According to Health Canada, Btk poses little threat to human health either through handling or from being exposed during a spray program. The Halton Region Health Department has previously stated while there have been reports of temporary eye, nose and skin irritation in some people, overall Btk has been used for years to control forest pests with minimal to no reported adverse health outcomes. According to the Government of Canada, Btk only targets specific lepidopteran insects in the larvae stage (caterpillars) and will not affect butterflies, honeybees, fish, birds or mammals. The pesticide was sprayed from the air in Mississauga in 2006 and 2007; in Toronto in 2007 and in Oakville in 2008. Town staff said the spray was highly effective in reducing gypsy moth populations in Oakville and all other neighbouring municipalities. Town staff in Mississauga and Hamilton are also recommending aerial spray programs in 2018 for approximately 1,400 hectares and 1,946 hectares respectively. The report noted the optimal time for the spraying w ould be late April or early May w hen the caterpillars are small. Spraying is typically done in the early morning, prior to 7:30 a.m. Roads in the vicinity of the spraying will be closed where required. Residents living adjacent to areas that will be sprayed w ill be notified in advance. 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