THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER fE=== pags ?, Vint iets sa ; oe 84 pages Classifieds 986-6222 Office, Editorial 985-2131 NEWS photo Cindy Goodman House of candy GRADE 2 student Lindsay Rite puts the finishing touches on a gingerbread house she made recently at Highlands Community Schoo!. Kids from all grades signed up to make the houses one afternoon after classes. Graham wafers, candies and icing sugar were the construction - materials of choice. Test drive the Honda Prelude Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 25¢ Spraying proposed on N. Shore to halt advance of gypsy moth A MASSIVE aerial and ground assault on Asian gypsy moths on the North Shore and elsewhere in the Lower Mainiand is pianned for the spring. Plans call for the spraying of 20,000 hectares (77 square miles) around the Lower Mainland with a biological insecticide: @ North and West from Horseshoe Bz Cove to a height of (3,000 feet): @ Vancouver and Burnaby from Jericho Beach to the foot of Bur- naby Mountain. The spraying program will de conducted by the Plant Protection Advisory Council (PPAC), a fed- eral-provincial group led by Agriculture Canada and including the agriculture and forestry departments of both governments. Vancouver Deep metres By Fred McCague Contributing Writer “It has not been genetically manipulated. There is no gene- slicing."* But the spray could also kill some of the native moths and but- terflies that are in the caterpili stage at the time of the spraying. However, Bell said, ‘We hav been advised there would be les damage to these species in the long term if we use Bt than if the Asian gypsy moth colonizes an area and permanently aos) Photo submitted GYPSY MOTHS fave been found every year on the North Shore since a single male European gypsy moth was found in the Brit- ish Properties in 1988. It follows the discovery in August of more g moths on the North Shore and, for the first time, moths in areas along Bur- rard Inlet’s south shore. In addition to raying, the group plans to set 10,000 gypsy moth traps in the region. The $5-million project will be by far the largest and most costly gypsy moth control program ever con- ducted in B.C. By comparison, Agricultu Canada has spent $1 million over the past 10 years for gypsy moth control and in 1991, sprayed 113 heetares near Sidney on Van- couver Island to contain a small an eYpSy moth infestation. spokesman Jon Bell said the spraying program will use a biological control agent called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstacki), a biaeteria trken from sick silk worms that infects and kills gypsy moths and other lepidoptera (but- terflies and moths). Bell stressed that ‘itis a natu. rally-occurring bacteria in a water formulation. it is not a chemical pesti the native moths.”’ PPAC believes the spraying Program is needed to prevent the moth from establishing itself in North America. Asian gypsy moths eat both co- niferous and deciduous trees; both Asian and European strains of the moth pose a significant threat to the Lower Mainland’s urban trees and all of B.C.’s forests. A local gypsy moth infestation would also have a serious impact on the North Shore and Van- couver port trade. Because the moth is an interna- tional pest, countries importing such B.C. products us wood could place trade embargoes on agricul- tural and forest products origi- nating or being processed through Vancouver's port if a gypsy moth infestation were to break out here. As reported in previous News stories, gypsy moths have been found ¢ year on the North Shore since a single male Euro- pean gypsy moth was found in the British Properties in 1988. See Majority page 3