We are requesting the use of other successful treatment plans that DO NOT require aerial spraying over Ely.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has planned the tree-top aerial spraying of a pesticide by airplane over the Ely, MN, business and residential area, twice, in June 2016. This will amount to approximately 10½  55-gallon drums of pesticide to be sprayed over Ely. The citizens of Ely have been offered no alternative. In 2015, surveys found 14 to 20 male gypsy moths in the Ely area.

The spraying is a part of an ineffective campaign to combat an invasive species, the gypsy moth. Having not been successful anywhere in stopping the gypsy moth, their campaign is now to Slow the Spread (STS) of the gypsy moth. Other, more targeted ground applications that have been successful in other areas with low populations of gypsy moths are not being considered by the MDA.

The MDA recommends, if you have health concerns or are looking for steps to prevent or reduce exposure, visit a website about the pesticide. A researcher involved with the pesticide recommends "sensitives" should leave the area. And of course there are warnings on the label and in the MDA spraying proposal brochure that tell you what to do to wash off the accumulated residue and how to wash exposed skin.

We do not want to leave our homes or businesses. We do not want pesticide or residue on our persons, our children, the elderly, those with respiratory ailments, or those with compromised immune systems or pre-existing medical conditions, all for the elimination of a few moths. What are we to tell the tourists who begin to arrive in Ely, a prime tourist destination and the gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness? "Please stay home until we decontaminate the City of Ely"?!

In addition to the gypsy moth, important pollinators will be killed -- hundreds of species, by the estimate of one entomologist -- with aerial spraying. This would not occur with a more targeted non-aerial treatment.

You can find out more about the health effects of the proposed pesticide spraying at www.elybuzz.com