The most likely places for glassy-winged sharpshooters to arrive in Sonoma County are Santa Rosa and Petaluma. This tiny insect, harmless to humans, hitch-hikes on landscaping plants from Southern California, which tend to go to population centers. People have the mistaken notion that they are most likely to arrive in vineyards. The experience to date in Sacramento, the Central Valley, and Southern Calif. is that they first arrive in cities. The only GWSS discovered to date in Sonoma County was at a Healdsburg nursery. This is why the cities of Sonoma and Sebastopol have passed resolutions opposing forced spraying. When 5 adult GWSS are discovered within a 300 yard radius, spraying can occur for the surrounding mile. This would mean the entire towns of Sebastopol and Sonoma. To date 13 elected city officials have voted against forced spraying, and only one has voted for it; her family owns a winery. Elected officials who care more for the health of their citizens than for maximizing the profits of a single industry will surely vote against forced spraying. Citizens will remember how elected officials vote on this particular matter.
The media campaign of the No Spray Action Network to date has focused
on the local area. We have had one good article about our work in
the SF Chron. and reports on the KPFA evening news. The LA Times will
soon have an article, followed by a report on NPR. We will gradually
expand our campaign to the region, state, nation, and throughout the
world until we get a written guarantee that there will be no forced
spraying for the GWSS. Farm without harm!
Shepherd Bliss