CURRENT

Due to the successful treatment in the past 2 years and to the fact that the Gypsy (spongy) moth outbreaks are cyclical there are no plans for treatment this year (2023).

 

The township is NOT responsible for the Gypsy (spongy) Moth treatment. This effort is organized and implemented by volunteers. The Township has graciously allowed using their website as a central link to the volunteer efforts.

 

Again, this was NOT a Foster Township initiative – volunteers coordinated and
executed this project for you.

My thanks go to Kathy Shirey, Kathy Hodge, Karen Peterson, Karen McIntyre,
Jeanne Rockwell, Dan Domzalski, Bob Theys, Tom & Sheri Figlan, Dave Distelrath,
Bill & Mary Jo Greene and Colleen Van Goetham for their efforts in this project.
 
If you have questions/concerns please contact
David B Ball at ball.db@gmail.com (preferred) or phone 989.787.0127.

 

TREATMENT

The treatment will consist of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), a bacterium that is naturally found in the ground which DOES NOT affect mammals (people, dogs, cats, horses, etc.). It kills the Gypsy Moths that eat the leaves that have been treated with it. Aerial application will be by helicopter and if you are outside during application, you will probably not be able to detect it since it will be a very fine mist.

HISTORY

It is NOT the Township or County responsibility to treat for Gypsy Moths. Shortly after the June 2021 Foster Township Board meeting where residents expressed great concern about the need for Gypsy Moth Abatement, a committee was formed to look into establishing a millage or Special Assessment District (SAD) to accomplish that goal. It was quickly determined that both of these paths were long term, 3-5 years at best, not counting the research time required to put a solid workable plan together to accomplish either goal. Therefore, it was decided that short term, we would concentrate on opening the “volunteer effort” to all of Foster Township instead of small pockets generally centered around the Clear Lake area. We accomplished that goal. With in 3 months, we had over 1900 acres of land requested for treatment. The downfall was that for whatever reason over 60% of the requests for treatment never responded – either to pay or OptOut.