DCCD serves as the coordinator for DCNR's Gypsy Moth Suppression Program in Dauphin County. The objective of this program is to protect trees in forested private residential areas from serious damage caused by gypsy moth caterpillars. The program is designed to keep the gypsy moth population to a minimum, not to eradicate it.

Instructions for submitting spray requests are posted in local newspapers in late spring through early summer. Landowners must request spraying in order to be considered. Typically, spray requests must be submitted between June 1 and August 15 to either municipal government or to DCCD, depending on the location of the property.

The gypsy moth's life cycle determines the timeframe for spraying. Caterpillars hatch in late April and eventually grow to be 1.5 to 2.5 inches long. After the feeding stage is over in late June or July, the caterpillars enter the pupal stage and emerge as moths in July and August. Within one or two days of emerging from the pupa, the gypsy moths mate and the female begins laying eggs. Field surveys are conducted in September, after the eggs are laid, to determine if aerial spraying is necessary.

If spraying needs to be conducted, it will occur during the following spring. A biological insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is used to suppress the gypsy moth population. This program is conducted and cost-shared in cooperation with DCNR, Dauphin County and local municipalities.

Click here to download the "Objector to Spraying" form.

Pennsylvania's West Nile Virus Surveillance Program is a multi-agency effort headed by the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), that monitors the vector ecology, geographic characteristics and epidemiology of West Nile Virus (WNV) in Pennsylvania. As the coordinator for the WNV program in Dauphin County, DCCD's duties are to monitor the mosquito population within the county by locating breeding locations and sampling larval populations, to collect samples of adult mosquitos for virus isolation samples, and to suppress the mosquito population within Dauphin County through larval control strategies.

Click here to submit a Mosquito Control Service Request form via email.