By ANGELA GREGORY
About 23,000 West Auckland households will be offered free entry to the Waitakere dump to help to get rid of a pest moth.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has begun sending letters to households within the area soon to be sprayed for control of the painted apple
moth.
The $11 million helicopter spray programme to blitz the pest with Foray 4B insecticide starts, weather permitting, on January 19.
The insecticide contains an organism, Btk, which occurs naturally in soil, water and air.
It affects only the caterpillars of butterflies and moths, and was used against a white-spotted tussock moth infestation in east Auckland in 1996 using a DC-6 aircraft.
A ministry spokeswoman, Mary-Ann Crawford, said every household in the area would receive the offer for the free disposal of garden refuse within the next month.
The letters were being staggered as a compost mulching Machine could handle only a certain volume of greenery at a time.
In just over a fortnight, spraying by helicopter begins over parts of Waikumete Cemetery, Traherne Island, and the Avondale Peninsula.
It will also be undertaken on an area of land between the Whau River bounded by:
* The length of Robert Rd until it reaches Te Atatu Rd.
* South along Te Atatu Rd until it reaches Great North Rd.
* South along Great North Rd until it reaches Rata St.
* North along Rata St until it reaches the Whau River.
The ministry estimates the painted apple moth, a native of Australia, could do $48 million damage to the horticulture and forestry industries if it is not eradicated.
At times close to 500 live moths a week have been trapped.
The most serious infestations are in Waikumete Cemetery, along the Whau River and on Traherne Island in the upper harbour where the helicopter spray campaign will be concentrated.
The ministry must report to the Government by March on the success of the operation.
