Carbon County officials want to educate the public on the 2016 gypsy moth suppression program.

The commissioners are hosting a public informational meeting with officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry at 7 p.m. July 21.The meeting will be held in courtroom one in the courthouse in Jim Thorpe.Commissioner William O'Gurek said the meeting is for anyone interested in the spraying program or who has questions about combating the problem."We met with the state and learned a lot about the program and said if we are going to do it, we have to do it right," he said.When the county participated in the program this spring, officials received word from residents after the fact, saying that they were unaware of the program and would have liked to have been included.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that DCNR will be able to answer questions on what can and can't be done in the spraying program. This year, 774 acres were sprayed in the county.He said the reason for the explosion of gypsy moths was the hot, dry spring the area experienced.The county is currently taking applications for residents who would like to participate in the 2016 program.Property owners who meet the state requirements for spraying can take part in the cost-sharing program.Nothstein said residents who qualify for the program may have to pay more next year for the spraying than this year because state and federal funding has not increased. Residents paid $26 per acre for spraying this spring.Criteria include having a total of 23 acres of forested residential property that must contain trees 25 feet or more in height and consist of at least 20 percent or more of highly favored species, including apple, aspen, basswood, beech, birches, box elder, hawthorn, larch, oaks, willows and witch hazel trees; and also have at least 250 healthy gypsy moth egg masses per acre, which is determined by a specific equation.Residential properties with only scattered ornamental trees and shrubs or any property with trees that are readily accessible to ground spray equipment do not qualify for this program.Areas that have very small egg masses, regardless of the number, often do not qualify for the program because the gypsy moth population will most likely succumb to natural mortality agents shortly after they emerge in the spring.Egg masses should not be removed until field evaluations have been completed. Neighboring residential properties where all the landowners desire treatment will be combined into a single spray block whenever possible.Deadline for registering for the program is Aug. 30.