PRESS RELEASES

• August 29, 2006 • July 14, 2006 • May 16, 2006 • March 25, 2005

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Sonoma County Bug Spot

Thank you for visiting the Sonoma County portion of www.bugspot.org. For more specific information or to ask questions about the insect or Sonoma County's program to deal with it, please call the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner's office at (707) 565-2371.

For more information, you can also visit:

Why is the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter a Threat to Sonoma County?

Sonoma County's Work Plan

In July 2000, the State of California required each county to submit a work plan to stop the spread of the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter. Because the State did not allow counties to stop incoming plant shipments from infested areas of Southern California due to concerns about restriction of trade, Sonoma County prepared a work plan that includes many different methods to fight the insect, and protect the ecology and economy of Sonoma County.

The work plan is currently under review. As soon as plan modifications are approved, we will post the plan and its modifications here.

The current work plan includes the following elements:

1. Exclusion and early detection efforts are the top priorities, and are briefly described below.
2. Control and eradication of Glassy-Winged Sharpshooters, if they do make their way into Sonoma County, are the other components of the work plan. Options for treatment vary depending on the stages of life found in an area. For example, an egg mass on one plant in a yard could possibly be dealt with by simply removing the plant to protect other plants and trees in the area. Because the State approves the use of locally applied ground spraying of pesticides, these have been included in the work plan for certain infestations, with careful monitoring, etc. These components are under review right now, and as soon as the plan is finalized, we will post the plan on this site.

Exclusion

Our #1 priority is prevention, or exclusion, of the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter. We cannot control Mother Nature, but there are things we can do to keep it out of Sonoma County as long as possible. We need everyone's participation in this effort, and we hope that, working together, we can keep it out of our county until effective organic treatments are available and approved by the State.

The counties of Napa, Sonoma, Solano, and Marin are inspecting incoming plant shipments from Southern California, because we cannot stop the shipments. Our County inspection teams are doing everything they can to inspect the incoming plant shipments that have the potential to host the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter.

Please support this prevention program by shopping at local garden stores, nurseries and landscapers that sell only inspected plants. Beginning in May, please look for a Certificate of Compliance with a "Sharpshooter Spotter" seal, signed by the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner John Westoby, at your local retailer. This Certificate tells you that the retailer cares enough to offer you plants that have been inspected for the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter. The local retailers that are in compliance with this inspection effort to keep Sonoma County beautiful will also have brochures available for you, so you can learn more about the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter.

In May, we will have a list available here that will include nurseries, retailers and landscapers that are in compliance with the program. Please bookmark this page, and check back then so you can support their efforts to keep our county!

Early Detection

The Agricultural Commissioner's team has placed a large number of sticky yellow cardboard traps in both residential areas and agricultural land. These traps are checked regularly for Glassy-Winged Sharpshooters and other pests. As of today no Sharpshooters have been found in Sonoma County on these traps.

If you are interested in helping out and want to have these sticky yellow traps on your property, please call the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner's office at (707) 565-2371.

Members of the County inspection team routinely do visual inspections of residential and agricultural land, and areas that are close to bodies of water, such as creeks or rivers, known as riparian areas. County inspectors focus primarily on newly landscaped areas that may have added plant material in the last few years.

The County's survey work includes neighborhoods, so an inspector may come to your door and ask to inspect your back yard for evidence of Glassy-Winged Sharpshooters.
· Always ask the inspector for identification.
· If you give the inspector permission to inspect your back yard, you will have the opportunity to talk with them about survey work you can do in your own yard.
· If you do not give the inspector permission to inspect your back yard that day, they will not just force their way onto your property. We hope that after visiting this site you'll realize how important this issue is, and allow the inspection of your back yard.
· If the inspector is in the neighborhood and stops by when you're not at home, they will leave a pamphlet about the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter to let you know that they were in the area. Don't worry - they won't go into your back yard if you're not there, or have not given them permission to go there!

You Can Do Your Own Surveys!

Take frequent walks around your yard or neighborhood park, and keep your eyes open for the insect or its egg masses. The Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter typically lays its eggs on the underside of leaves, but adult insects can be anywhere on a plant or tree.

If you find an insect that you think might be a Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter or a suspicious egg mass, try to collect the evidence in a plastic bag, film canister, jar or food container so we can make the proper identification. We've found it's easiest to collect these insects in the early morning when the temperature is cooler.

Because the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter drains a large amount of water out of every plant it feeds on, it then excretes a liquid called Sharpshooter rain that leaves a white stain on anything outdoors - patio furniture, plants, cars and sidewalks, etc. If you see stains you think may be their Sharpshooter rain, you may have them in the area.

If you find evidence of an insect, please call the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner's office at (707) 565-2371. By asking you a few questions about the insect, we'll try to determine if it is a Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter. If we think it is, you can drop the specimen off at the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner's office or we can come by and pick it up.

What happens if you or a member of the County's inspection team find a Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter on your property? The flow chart describing the current procedures that the County will follow are available for you here, but these too, are under review.

Education and Outreach

If the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter were to establish itself here in Napa County, we would all feel the consequences. The County's efforts include letting all stakeholders - that is, people who live, visit, or work here - know about the insect and what they can do to assist in prevention and early detection. This website is part of that program.

We also have informational brochures, posters, a video, slide show, an educational curriculum, and a PowerPoint presentation in Spanish and English, available for clubs, camps, schools, and any organization that is interested in helping to educate Sonoma County citizens about what they can do to protect our beautiful county. Call 1-866-BUG-SPOT for more information.

Why is the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter a Threat to Sonoma County Ecology and Economy?

How the insect hurts the ecology around us:

The Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter is leafhopper insect that has a stylus - like a little drill - that bores through wood. With this unique apparatus, the insect can transmit lethal diseases into the wood portion of plants and trees. With this stylus, it also sucks life-giving water out of all the plants it feeds on. Each adult Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter sucks out 200 to 300 times its body weight in water every day. This is the equivalent of an adult human drinking 4,300 gallons of water per day! This loss of water that every living thing needs is even hurting our oak trees, that are trying to fight off other diseases, as well.

Unlike its relative, the Blue-Green Sharpshooter, that just feeds on tips of plants that can be pruned away, the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter can damage many trees, crops and plants because of its ability to transmit diseases into woody parts of plants, trees and crops that cannot be pruned away. Please see the list of plants that serve as a host to the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter.

How the insect could hurt our economy:

Not only can Glassy-Winged Sharpshooters wipe out table, wine and raisin grapes, it also spreads a lethal disease that affects almonds, alfalfa and many other crops. The damage to these crops would affect the field workers and farmers who grow them, and many other people, as well.

These crops support a huge variety of other jobs. For example, the wine grape industry is the primary reason that tourists come to Sonoma County, according to the California State Tourism Board. The tourism industry brings in approximately $190 million into Sonoma County every year and supports about 16,000 jobs. Those jobs are in jeopardy if the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter becomes established in Sonoma County. And the money spent locally by those people would affect even more of us - from local bookstore and coffee shop owners to auto mechanics.

The high-tech boom just south of us affects Sonoma County's economy, and we have seen prices rise steeply over the past years in many sectors of our economy. For example, because of the rise in land prices, grape crops are one of the only crops that can compete with the push for new housing developments and other commercial enterprises.

If the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter wipes out the grapes in Sonoma County, just as it did in Anaheim, California many years ago, we will have no green, living crops to compete with the economic impact of the high-tech boom.

What You Can Do to Help

Shop Locally: Support Local Nurseries, Retailers and Landscapers
A list of the local nurseries, retailers and landscapers that are complying with our Nursery Stock Inspection Program will be added to this site in May - please bookmark this page and check back then!

To protect your yard and neighborhood and our beautiful county, please support local establishments that offer plants and trees that have been inspected for evidence of Glassy-Winged Sharpshooters. Look for a Certificate of Compliance from the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner when you shop for outdoor plants, so you know that the establishment cares enough to offer you plants that have been inspected, in an effort to protect our beautiful county. The "Sharpshooter Spotter" seal on the Certificate may also appear in advertising done by these compliant establishments. Please support these local businesses!