The Washington State Department of Agriculture’s annual gypsy moth summer trapping program is under way.

More than 22,000 small cardboard traps were placed throughout the state in July. They will be checked every two to three weeks during the summer and taken down in September. Traps were placed in all 39 counties.

Four thousand traps were placed in King County, the highest of any county in the state.

Among the intensively trapped areas in the county because of past gypsy moth activity are:

• Tiger Mountain, near the intersection of Tiger Mountain Road and Southeast 160th Street.

• In Kent, near the intersection of Kent-Des Moines Road South and the West Valley Highway.

• In Federal Way, near the intersection of Southwest 342nd Street and 30th Avenue Southwest

• In Renton, near the intersection of SW 27th Street and East Valley Highway

Washington has never had a permanent population of the gypsy moth, considered by officials as the worst forest pest ever brought into the U.S. Nineteen states in the East and Midwest are not so fortunate. Thousands of acres in those states are permanently infested.

The gypsy moth attacks more than 500 species of trees and plants. In its caterpillar form the pest quickly strips trees and plants of leaves, destroying some and weakening others so they are susceptible to plant diseases. The caterpillar also destroys wildlife habitat, degrades water quality and triggers costly quarantines of timber, agriculture, and nursery products.

“We’ve kept this pest out of the state for 36 years,” said Tracy Shirek, trapping coordinator for King County. “We want that record to continue.”

The number of gypsy moths caught annually in Washington varies widely. The largest number caught was 1,315 in 1983, and the smallest number in the last 30 years was 17 in 2002. Last year 18 moths were caught.

For more information, call the gypsy moth hotline at 1-800-443-6684 or visit www.agr.wa.gov/PlantsInsects/InsectPests/GypsyMoth.