About 175 gypsy moth traps will be set in Benton and Franklin counties in the coming weeks, the Washington State Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday.
The statewide annual trapping program will help determine where the moth population has grown since last summer, said the department's John Lundberg.
The moth is harmful to forests and agriculture but has never become a permanent resident in the state, as it has in the East and Midwest, according to the department.
Nearly 24,000 cardboard traps will be placed around the state in neighborhoods, business districts, ports and in rural areas. They'll be checked every two or three weeks and taken down in September, the department said.
Last year 21 moths were caught. That's four more than the record low of 17 in 2002, and a much smaller number than the record 1,315 moths caught in 1983, the department said.
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