Controlling the Tussock^ Moth 



439 



weather service at field headquarters in 

 Moscow. June is a month of uncertain 

 weather conditions in this area. 



Weather records over a period of 

 years were analyzed and used as a basis 

 for the over-all plans. Even so, there 

 was uncertainty. Abnormal rains and 

 wind occurrence and velocity would 

 seriously reduce favorable flying time. 



A detailed survey of the general area 

 of infestation was necessary in advance 

 of spraying to delineate the areas to 

 be sprayed on aerial maps for use of 

 the pilots, to subdivide the infested 

 areas into spray-application units, and 

 to determine accurately the acreage to 

 be sprayed. Because of snow and im- 

 passable roads, this precontrol survey 

 was not completed until June 20. 



Arrangements were made with the 

 University of Idaho for a field head- 

 quarters in the university buildings. Of- 

 fice space and sleeping quarters were 

 provided in one building. 



Selections were made of administra- 

 tive and operations personnel to be de- 

 tailed from the national forests and the 

 Bureau of Entomology and Plant 

 Quarantine to the project a short time 

 in advance of spraying operations. All 

 transportation and office equipment 

 and supplies, radios, tents, bedding, 

 and other equipment were obtained 

 from Forest Service and Bureau of En- 

 tomology and Plant Quarantine stocks. 

 Purchases were then made of a small 

 amount of special items, such as glass 

 plates for spray checking, cleaning sol- 

 vent for the glass plates, and small 

 amounts of lumber for tent platforms. 



During this preparatory period and 

 the course of control work, the Idaho 

 State Forestry Department assembled 

 data on landownership and collected 

 funds from the timberland owners. 



The organization of the Federal ad- 

 ministrative and control forces pre- 

 sented some new problems. Two major 

 decisions, made early in the prepara- 

 tion stages, materially simplified this 

 task. The first was that the Forest Serv- 

 ice and Bureau of Entomology and 

 Plant Quarantine would not handle 

 any phase of the operations which dealt 



directly with flying. The delivery of 

 spray by tank truck from the railhead 

 to the airfields was a responsibility of 

 the contractor. Spray-material con- 

 tracts provided for delivery of the fin- 

 ished insecticide in tank cars so that 

 there would be no need for mixing the 

 DDT in solvent with the fuel oil at the 

 project delivery point. The second de- 

 cision was that artificial marking of 

 flight lines would not be attempted. 



These decisions left four primary ac- 

 tivities upon which the Federal admin- 

 istrative and control organization 

 would be based: 



( 1 ) General administration and su- 

 pervision, including, but not limited to, 

 facilitating delivery of insecticide on 

 schedule and keeping records of all 

 shipments, deliveries, and use; daily 

 record of expenditures and obliga- 

 tions; daily progress record of acreage 

 sprayed ; the maintenance of radio and 

 other noncontract equipment ; pay rolls 

 and payments to flying contractors and 

 others. 



( 2 ) Information and public contacts, 

 including cooperation with representa- 

 tives of the State forestry department, 

 extension service, and others in the or- 

 ganization of meetings of timberland 

 owners in connection with collection of 

 contributions; furnishing information 

 to representatives of newspapers and 

 periodicals, newsreel companies, inde- 

 pendent writers; investigation of com- 

 plaints; and other details. 



( 3 ) Checking spray application and 

 completeness of coverage in accord- 

 ance with the terms of the flying con- 

 tract; also checking the tussock moth 

 kill success. 



(4) Weather predictions. 



The Federal agencies' organization 

 for those purposes required the services 

 of 35 persons at the peak of operations. 



These preparatory actions were the 

 most critical phases of the control job 

 and were essential to its success. 



Forest Service and Bureau of Ento- 

 mology and Plant Quarantine person- 

 nel moved into field headquarters and 

 outlying field stations on May 10, set up 

 offices and other temporary quarters, 



