The Ojai Post

from Dulanie Ellis, Chairperson of the OVGC Food & Agriculture Committee, via Suza:

Meiners Oaks is quarantined because of findings of Gypsy Moths. The findings are on Rice Road, the quarantine area extends as far east as Rancho Matilija and west to the Ojai Valley Country Club. THIS IS A SERIOUS THREAT. There are no natural predators for the Gypsy Moth and they can potentially destroy our oak forests. They have absolutely devastated the forests of Pennsylvania and other Eastern States.

RESTRICTIONS: Residents must not move any of the following from their property without first getting a free inspection and clearance from the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner:

** Mobile homes, recreational vehicles, trailers, boats and associated equipment (they cling to tires & underneath vehicles)
** Outdoor household articles including furniture, garden tools and garden machinery. (This means we need to carefully inspect any tools we'd be using to work on other people's gardens!)
** Trees & shrubs with persistent woody stems, including green waste & garden pruning material. (How this affects buying plants from Mountain Meadow nursery, I'm not sure. But it will also have implications for using compost from the recycling yard).
** Timber and building material, including lumber, planks, poles, logs, firewood, fencing and building blocks.

To schedule a FREE inspection, contact the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner's Office from 7:00am-4:00pm Monday to Friday 933-2926, or Saturdays at 665-7295.

Please broadcast this far and wide. The moths are in the cocoon stage now, when they hatch to larvae each one can eat up to a square foot of leaves a day. This quarantine is in effect for the next 2 years, in order to monitor several life cycles worth of Gypsy Moths. This means we need to be diligent about our living habits for quite some time.

Thanks for your help, and please welcome the inspectors who will be happy to inspect your property free of charge.

Downloads:
Gypsy Moth Info Sheet (.pdf, 213kb)
Gypsy Moth Q&A (.doc, 38kb)
Gypsy Moth Official Letter & Map (.doc, 1.2MB)