Not knowing Gypsy Moths are an invasive species and letting them prosper and calling it nature taking its course is uneducated
From Joe Courtney
This morning, I joined representatives from the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP), the University of Connecticut Extension Service, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and our local “Friends of the Pachaug Forest” advocacy organization for a tour to survey damage in the Pachaug State Forest caused by an infestation of gypsy moth caterpillars. The caterpillars, which feed on the leaves of a variety of trees, have caused widespread defoliation and a glut of dead and severely compromised trees throughout the Pachaug Forest a potentially major forest fire risk that will be costly to clean up.
On our tour, we focused on new approaches to help address the gypsy moth outbreak at the federal level. I’ve been supportive of efforts by Connecticut DEEP to secure federal funding through the NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which would make funds available to agricultural producers throughout state and private forests for help in clearing out dead and dying trees, and I’ve long been an advocate for supporting forest management by expanding the definition of “biomass” within the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
Congress actually has a chance to help private citizens and our region as a whole find a way to turn this problem into an opportunity by expanding the uses for biomass within the RFS there is a goldmine of viable biomass to be found in the dead wood littered throughout the Pachaug Forest as a result of gypsy moth damage. Clearing out the dead trees and converting them into usable energy would be a win for everyone involved. As a carbon-neutral source of energy, biomass is a clean energy alternative that Connecticut should be taking full advantage of, and I’m working with a bipartisan group in Congress to pave the way for putting those resources to work. The severity of this issue requires a multi-faceted response from various levels of the government, and I am committed to working at the federal level to help secure resources needed to combat this mounting crisis.
