The San Benito County Board of Supervisors will consider
approving a contract with the California Department of Food and
Agriculture for trapping services for the light brown apple moth in
the amount of $11,344.
HOLLISTER
The San Benito County Board of Supervisors will consider approving a contract with the California Department of Food and Agriculture for trapping services for the light brown apple moth in the amount of $11,344.
The contract is for fiscal year 2008/09 but does not cover the costs for extra work involved with the moths.
“For any extra trapping or inspection, there is going to be a new contract drawn up,” San Benito County Agricultural Commissioner Paul Matulich said.
The county is in federal quarantine because two moths have been found in traps, on Santa Ana Valley Road and El Toro Drive. Matulich said the moths mainly affect nurseries eating leaves, stems, buds and other green growth on plants. He added that there have not been any found in commercial crops due to treatments that the growers apply.
The moths are found mostly in nursery stock, plants near river beds, backyard gardens and any place where plants are not treated for the moth. Those are the types of places where moths multiply on host plants, Matulich said.
The traps that have been used to catch the moths are handled by the United State Department of Agriculture. It is also the entity that called for the county’s quarantine.
The board of supervisors meets at 9 a.m. in the chambers at the County Administrative Building, 481 Fifth St.
