Overcollecting big time!

[Michael Gochfeld]

David McCorkle's letter on the proposed spray program was sobering, and 
the hook "commercial" take, was intriguing although not likely to be 
persuasive to foresters. 

I wonder, however, if it would be persuasive to the State Department of 
Ecology (or whatever the comparable environmental agencies are called). 

Unless there is an objection I would forward this letter to the head of 
New Jersey's Non-game/Endangered Species program which periodically has 
to stand up to the Division of Forestry in the same department. 

A half million acres is 781 square miles (about a tenth the size of New 
Jersey). A comparable area of southeastern New York/Long Island was 
sprayed last fall for mosquitoes, using non-specific insecticides.  No 
effort (nor interest) was expressed in identifying any consequences, nor 
was there any attempt even to assess the benefits, by survying mosquito 
populations before and after the program. 

M. Gochfeld