In Irkutsk, a new strategy to fight the ermine moth was presented. This year, authorities are relying on prevention and tree care, not pesticides. Residents will be involved.

The strategy of the administration’s actions this year during the spread of the ermine moth was announced today at a press conference by Irkutsk Deputy Mayor Anton Logashov.
“We have information from the Rosselkhoztsentr that this year the moth population will be smaller than last year, since we achieved certain successes last year. But this year there are significant changes: the product we used in 2014, Actellic, is not currently included in the list of approved products,” the deputy mayor said. “We are radically changing the approach itself, the strategy itself: to involve as many people as possible—residents, management companies, homeowners’ associations, territorial public self-governments—in preventive work without using toxic chemicals.”
The Irkutsk administration has developed a plan of measures to prevent the spread of the ermine moth and reduce damage to green plantings in the city. Its main emphasis is on tree care.
“Caring for green plantings is a complex issue. Toxic chemicals act over a narrow period of time, while the tree needs to recover,” explained Vladimir Chubuk, head of the ecology department of the city improvement committee of the Irkutsk administration. “We have worked out in detail the methods for carrying out all care measures, prepared standard recommendations, and they will be brought to the attention of the public and organizations that can take part in this work. And most importantly, most of these tasks do not require special skills or significant costs, which means anyone can do them.”
In particular, this refers to feeding the plants and watering them. The latter method, in addition to care, also has an aesthetic effect: the web is washed off the trees by the force of the water. Last year, this method was used on the grounds of kindergartens.
“Here we need a comprehensive approach and the pooling of efforts: the administration, municipal enterprises, land tenants, and simply active city residents—all must join forces to solve this problem,” said Alexander Khankhalaev, acting chairman of the Irkutsk Duma. “On behalf of the deputy corps, we will do our utmost to involve active city residents in implementing the set of measures approved this year. Under current economic conditions, we consider it justified to direct funds not toward expensive toxic chemicals, but to focus on actions that can also involve the city’s public.”
Already this week, the Irkutsk administration will hold a seminar for representatives of management companies and territorial public self-governments, where they will be introduced to the action plan and told what measures they can use to protect green plantings from the ermine moth.
Based on materials from the Irkutsk administration press service.