Crown Hill will not be sprayed with pesticide to kill gypsy moths in 2006, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, though the department's Plant Protection Division will propose aerial spraying for approximately 100 acres of the Madrona neighborhood.

Brad White, an Agriculture program manager, said the moths found in Crown Hill in the fall of 2005 were a cause for concern, but that another year of data would be collected before the state considered taking action.

"We're comfortable watching smaller infestations for a couple of years," White said about the discovery of eight gypsy moths found in pheromone-laced traps last fall in the Whittier Heights area of Ballard.

The gypsy moth defoliates trees in its caterpillar form. Since arriving in the country in the nineteenth century, the moth has become entrenched in the northeastern United States, costing as much as $30 million in annual economic losses, primarily through destruction of trees used in the timber and agriculture industries.

Because the moth does not have an established presence in Washington, the state prefers to eradicate, rather than suppress gypsy moth populations when found. The agency's preferred method of killing the moths is the pesticide Btk, a naturally occurring bacteria that poisons the insect when ingested. The delivery method for Btk is a product called Foray 48b, a product that has proved to be controversial in previous sprayings in Ballard, most recently in 2000 and 2002.

The manufacturer of Foray 48b, Valent Biosciences, is not required to divulge the inert ingredients in the product, which it claims is a trade secret. The agriculture agency's use of the product has drawn criticism from residents and elected officials alike, citing a lack of long term studies on the health effects of the product, coupled with the mystery about its contents. After the gypsy moth spraying in 2000, State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Ballard) and Representative Mary Lou Dickerson (D-Ballard) were both critical of decision to use Foray 48b, as were several City of Seattle and King County council members.

The Agriculture Department was also criticized for ham-handed public relations after it sought several dozen administrative warrants to forcibly spray the lots of unwilling homeowners. Residents also complained of confrontational tactics by state-contracted exterminators. One of those residents, Andrea Faste, was happy the department was delaying a decision to spray Crown Hill.

"This time around I give [the Department of] Agriculture credit. Last time ... they had already pretty much decided to spray. This time they were more willing to have a more comprehensive conversation," Faste said.

Part of that conversation was an open house the Agriculture Department held last October in a sparsely attended Whittier Heights Elementary School, with several agency officials in attendance to explain the ramifications of finding the moths in Crown Hill and what options they were considering for treatment.

All of the moths captured on Crown Hill turned out to be of the European strain of the gypsy moth, which is less mobile and so less problematic to eradicate than the Asian strain. The agency does not yet know why the moths are turning up in Crown Hill.

"It's interesting to us that we're seeing infestations pop up in that localized area every couple of years," White said. He speculated that the culprit could be a Crown Hill resident that travels regularly or vacations in gypsy moth infested states. The moth can lay its eggs on furniture or vehicles which are then transported into states without a native population.

White said that traps will be laid in Crown Hill this June and checked again in the fall for another evaluation.