Assessing the risk of chemical runoff following use of Gazelle SG as a pre-treatment and top-up spray in forestry.

Summary Description:

Despite significant and continuing progress in the development of non-chemical methods for controlling the large pine weevil (Hylobius abietis) in restocking situations, on some sites there still remains a need for insecticide treatment to prevent catastrophic damage to replanted trees. Acetamiprid is increasingly being used in UK forestry as the primary insecticide treatment for protecting young trees from damage by Hylobius abietis, because it is more than 400 times less toxic to the aquatic environment and to bees than the insecticides it replaces.

However, whilst the additional evidence based precautionary measures that are routinely employed for all insecticide treatments in forestry are considered to be more than sufficient to fully protect the freshwater environment from any contamination, up until now the use of acetamiprid on restock sites has not been specifically monitored.

This project therefore consists of a monitoring study to confirm that there is no runoff of acetamiprid to water following the use of Gazelle SG® (20% w/w acetamiprid) as a pre-treatment and top-spray in forestry. If runoff were to be detected, a further objective of this study would be to recommend changes to forestry practice to minimise risk.